For most hoping to make the jump from high school athletics to collegiate athletics, it’s all about the junior year. It’s usually during that year that players draw the most interest recruiters.
Western Albemarle lacrosse star Abby Wheeler’s junior year didn’t quite go as planned as she suffered a season ending knee injury early in the spring and was forced to watch her team from a distance.
“The hardest thing I’ve had to do is see people play lacrosse for six months without being able to play myself,” Wheeler said. “It was an uphill climb, small steps, and even things like just getting on the elliptical machine felt good.”
Wheeler has fully recovered, and the good news for her is that for more than a handful of schools, some of whom are the best in the country, scouting the Warrior forward on just two years of work wasn’t a problem.
Wheeler’s player during her freshman and sophomore years combined with the exposure she picked up from her travel lacrosse team, the Capital Lacrosse Club, were more than enough for the collegiate recruiters, and on Tuesday, she officially signed a letter of intent to play for Vanderbilt University.
“It feels great,” Wheeler said of official signing. She verbally agreed to play for the Commodores in June. “It’s definitely been a long process, a lot of ups and downs, but when you finally get there to sign the papers, it just feels great.”
Wheeler’s comeback from a torn ACL was something that wound up bringing her closer to the Vanderbilt coaching staff, as a pair on the staff have rehabilitated from the same injury.
The Western senior wound up choosing Vanderbilt over Pennsylvania, Northwestern and North Carolina after visiting the school in Nashville.
“I wound up going down there and literally just fell in love with the school,” Wheeler said. “Sometimes when you’re meeting the coaches you feel like it’s an uptight business meeting. But with (Vanderbilt) we hit things off immediately and I think we all felt that it was going to be a perfect fit. I committed (verbally) to play for them two weeks after that meeting.”
The commitment to play collegiately marks the third straight year that the Western Albemarle girls lacrosse program, which is coached by Nancy Haws, has had a player continue their playing career after graduation. Two years ago, Mary Schwartz signed with George Mason, last year Bridgett Lynn agreed to play for George Washington, and now Wheeler will head to Vanderbilt.
The Commodores, who were ranked as high as 11th nationally this past season, get a speedy forward with a knack for finding the back of the net. In 2008 Wheeler led the team in scoring as a sophomore, averaging 4.5 goals per contest and finishing with 82 on the year, twice her total from 2007 when she was the team’s top goal getter as a freshman. As such, she was named to of the All-Jefferson District, All-Region II, and All-Central Virginia first teams. In her first two years playing for Western, Wheeler helped guide the team to .833 winning percentage with 30 wins in 36 games.
