SAINT LEO, Fla. - The Saint Leo Department of Athletics launched a student-athlete spotlight, recognizing two student-athletes (one male and one female), who excelled in their respective sport and/or in the classroom, each month. The student-athletes selected for the month of December are women's lacrosse defender,
Marisa Souchak, and men's soccer defender,
Karl Nyman.
Souchak is a key starter on defense for the Lions. She showed excellence early in her Saint Leo career, which allowed her to be selected as a captain in her sophomore year. Marisa is a representative of SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee), which allows her to participate actively in the community on campus. In the Fall of 2020, she started virtual teaching, which she loved every minute of. Marisa is an exceptional student-athlete, and we look forward to seeing what she does in the future.
This past season was cut short due to the global pandemic as the Green and Gold were 4-3 on the year including a 16-11 victory over 13th-ranked Limestone. Souchak started all seven games and looks to be a key member of the 2021 squad.
Nyman has a long list of why he is our student-athlete spotlight for this month. He has been in President's Club three times (top 15 percent academically among all student-athletes) and he also serves as a team captain, who shows strength and leadership on and off the field daily. He is also a member of SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee). Nyman, on top of everything else, is a resident assistant on campus. He is an outstanding student-athlete who sets the standard extremely high among our student-athletes.
Nyman and his teammates missed the entire Fall 2020 season due to the global pandemic but he started all 17 games for the Lions in 2019 while helping secure seven victories on the pitch.
- Name: Marisa Souchak
- Sport: Women's Lacrosse
- Hometown: Sarasota, Florida
- Major: Elementary Education
- Year: 2022, anticipated graduation
- Get to know more about Marisa
- Who inspired you as a young athlete? When I was younger, I was inspired most by my grandpa! He was able to play golf and football in college and eventually moved onto the PGA Tour. Seeing where he came from, his hard work, and all that he could accomplish helped me with my drive and passion for sports!
- What is your favorite food? Definitely sushi!
- How does athletics make you a better student or worker? Athletics has helped me learn how to work hard on and off the field! I have been able to develop my time management skills and how to prioritize classwork. Not only that, but it has helped me learn how to communicate and collaborate with people!
- If you could change one rule about your sport, what would it be? Shooting Space! In women's lacrosse, the attacker needs to have free space when going to the cage. If a defender gets within their shooting space in the eight meters, it is a penalty on the defender, and the attacking team gets a free position shot. This rule can be very frustrating, especially for defenders!
- If you weren't playing your sport, what other sport would you want to play at the college level? If I wasn't playing lacrosse right now, I would love to play either golf or basketball!
- What about the sport brings you the most joy? Being able to play different sports has allowed me to create these amazing connections with my family and some of my best friends. My current and former teammates have impacted me in so many different ways and have helped me grow into the person I am today. For as long as I can remember, sports have been an outlet for me, and I am so fortunate for everything that sports have brought me!
- Favorite pump-up song or music? Any Pop Smoke song!
- If you could describe yourself as an animal as to how you play lacrosse, what would it be and why? I would describe myself as a lion when I play! When I'm on the field, I'm always on the hunt for ground balls and trying to claim the territory on defense. Our defensive unit is a great pride, and I can't wait for us to be back out on the field playing together!
- Who is your favorite person you follow on social media? For sure, Shawn Mendes! But of course, I have to shout out my roomies too! (@mac_cotter, @ninaurban2, and @meghanbomleny)
- A favorite quote that you live by? "There's always a solution."
- Name: Karl Nyman
- Sport: Men's Soccer
- Hometown: Västerås, Sweden
- Major: Biomedical and Health Care
- Year: 2022, anticipated graduation
- Get to know more about Karl
- What is your favorite course you are enrolled in this semester & why? Experimental Design with Dr. Sergiy Borysov. It is an upper-level biology course where you can write a research proposal and design the research project that you will conduct the following semester. I plan to complete a project involving a novel cancer treatment for pancreatic cancer. Certainly interesting!
- If you were stranded on an island, which one of your teammates would you want with you & why? Tyler Velazquez! He is my current roommate and a provider of some amazing fish tacos. He's a great chef!
- What do you hope to do after graduating? Good question. I am currently looking at medical schools and research opportunities in the field of biology. I still haven't given up my childhood dream of playing professional soccer as well.
- If you could change one rule about your sport, what would it be? Considering men's soccer's last season (Fall 2019), I would change up the handball rule in the penalty area. I think we had five or six handballs resulting in penalties against us last year. I don't mean that they should take it away, only that they should change it up and make tougher guidelines for it.
- If you weren't playing your sport, what other sport would you want to play at the college level? I love to run and challenge myself both mentally and physically. Therefore, I would love to do some kind of extreme-sport, such as a triathlon. I love playing golf too.
- What's it like being from Sweden and coming to school in Florida? It is like being on vacation every day. To this day, I am amazed by the warm climate, the palm trees, and the beautiful sunrise/sunset. Also, there is an IKEA in Tampa that I go to when I am homesick and miss Sweden.
- What is your favorite pre-game meal? Chicken, rice, and broccoli.
- If you could describe yourself as an animal as to how you play soccer, what would it be and why? A lion, of course! A protector of the pride (my team).
- If you could meet anyone, dead or alive, who would it be, and what would you ask them? As a science major, I would probably choose Albert Einstein. I would ask him about his thoughts and reasoning regarding the relativity theory. As a soccer player, I would choose Steven Gerrard and ask him how it felt lifting the Champions League trophy in Istanbul 2005. On a personal level, I would choose my granddad that I never got to meet, and ask him things about his life.
- A favorite quote that you live by? "Be so good they can't ignore you" by Alex Martin.
Check out the previous Student-Athlete spotlights:
October,
November
Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Lions news by following Saint Leo Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
