Kasey Stever

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Name:	Kasey Stever
Hometown:	Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Year:	Junior
Position:	Forward
Major:	Industrial Design
Club Team:	Mentor Impact
Favorite Music/Artist:	I seriously love everything. I am obsessed with someone new everyday. Right now it's Mika!!! He's crazy and I love it.
If you were an animal what would you be?	I would want to be a Panda. They are so fat and cute and cuddly looking.
On pizza you like:	Anything but the crazy stuff, like pineapples or anchovies!
Favorite Word:	Marsupial!!! I think it's the cutest word ever, especially because it makes me think of koala bears.
Pets Names:	Bud, Shadow (horses); Bode, Sophie (dogs); C.C., Baxter, Caroline (cats); Kip (hamster); Bear, Lucy (bunnies); and Will (goldfish). I have a lot of pets.
Guilty Pleasure:	Drinking Diet Coke. I know it's so bad for you, but I drink like 3 per day.
Country you most want to visit:	I would like to go to Italy. I love their food, fashion, and language, so why not!?
Favorite Movie:	The Departed, by far. I've watched it so many times and it just keeps getting better and better!
Favorite Gum Flavor:	Pretty much anything.
Last Family Trip:	We went to Hilton Head to visit my grandparents over Christmas break. We do it every year. I am really close to my family so we always manage to have a great time!
Favorite Holiday:	Definitely Christmas. The whole day is filled with spending time with the family, opening presents and eating. What could be better than that?
Toothpaste you use:	Crest.
One word that best describes you:	Goofy. I try my best to make everyone smile or laugh.
Other interests:	I like tons of different things! Making clothes, taking pictures, shopping, snowboarding, riding horses, traveling, running, drawing, cooking, watching movies, animals, etc.

now to the questions...

You and your teammates are often described as a very close group. What types of things do you guys do together away from the field?

KS: We do tons of different things together! We go out to eat, go shopping, go
to athletic events, go to movies, hang out, dance, go on spring break
together, live together, etc. etc. Basically we're all best friends, so we
do what normal best friends do!

From our prospective it would be fair to say the team was playing
better quality soccer by the end of the year. What do you think impacted the slow start and what was the biggest challenge the team had to overcome this season?

KS: This past year, our team was very young. We lost a lot of seniors the year
before, so a lot of us were not familiar with playing with one another. Also, a few of us were put in positions we were not necessarily used to. So, I guess the beginning of the year just took us some time to sort things out. Once we got used to our new positions and playing with one another, we really clicked. We knew where to play the ball and what runs to make, and ended the season really successfully - something we are all excited about continuing into this next year.

Being an industrial design major must be very rewarding. What are some of the projects you are working on now? Is there one that you are
particularly proud of?

KS: Right now I am working on designing a radio. The hard part is that we not only need to build the radio body, but also make it work. This project is fun, because we do not have any limitations as to what the radio looks like, just as long as it looks good and works.

One project I am particularly proud of is a project I worked on over the summer. I had the opportunity to design the board for a game a company invented, that encourages innovative thinking. The game has been really successful and received a ton of global publicity. I guess it is just cool that I designed something that has been showcased all across the world.

We've had a lot of prospective student-athletes come to visit us in the last few weeks which has generated a lot of excitement around our program. Can you tell us a bit about your college search process and how you decided on CMU?

KS: CMU is obviously a great institution with a great reputation. It is one of the few schools I looked at where I could study a specific area of interest. They are also one of the top ranked universities in the country for industrial design. On top of all the academic pluses, they had a perfect soccer program - competitive, successful, serious without being completely time consuming, etc. The thing that really sold me on CMU, however, was my recruit visit. I stayed over with Lisa and Annie and also had the chance to spend time with the rest of the team. It was awesome to see how close everyone was, and they made me feel so welcome. So, I came here because I knew that on top of getting a great education and playing for a great team, I would make amazing friends too. Also, Lisa and Annie ended up being my best friends too, so it all just worked out so perfectly!

The coaching staff has noticed the locker room before games is a pretty festive place. Does the team have any special pre-game rituals that you can talk about? Do you?

KS: The locker room is very festive. Everyone is focused on the upcoming game, but not overly focused to the point where they psych themselves out. We all have our "game faces on" - people know that it's time to play soccer so all personal or school issues are left behind. We also get everyone pumped up and excited to play by playing a music mix. Everyone sings along and some of us even dance. If you ever get the chance, ask Laura to show you her pre-game dance, it's truly remarkable.

As for me, I have to make sure my hair is just right. I have to have a pre-wrap headband with either French-braided pigtails or a ponytail with a braid. I have played the best when I have RedBull and braids, so I guess it has turned into a type of superstition for me.

The UAA it talked about as being one of the most competitive conferences in DIII for all sports. Do you believe that is true and which of the UAA schools do you enjoy playing most?

KS: The UAA is definitely very competitive. There are always a good amount of teams who consistently make the Top 25 DIII polls. I really like being a part of such a challenging conference. Every game is close and everyone plays so hard - it just makes everything so much more exciting and rewarding. We love playing Rochester, because they have always been a huge rival for us. They are bigger and more physical than we are, so we can always expect a really exciting game.

What is your most memorable high school soccer moment and why?

KS: It was my last home game ever - a conference playoff game - and we were playing a team that we should have easily beaten. However, it was a really rainy, cold, muddy, typical November, Cleveland night. The other team was playing with about eight defenders and two attackers - props to them, it was a bold move that worked. So, even though we were clearly better than them, we ended regulation at a 0-0 tie and went into overtime. Within the first two minutes of overtime I got the ball, turned, shot, and scored the game winning goal. My team ran over and piled on me, and the entire stands started chanting my name. Even though we should have won by a lot more, it was just such a nice and exciting way to end my high school career on my home field.

Our non-tradition season has come to a close. What types of things were you and your teammates involved with this spring and what do you do in the summer to maintain your soccer fitness?

KS: The team has been working incredibly hard this spring. We have been lifting a lot - we actually enjoy it this year thanks to our amazing new weight room. Also, we try to play as often as we can. We have scheduled turf time, but a lot of us play in pick up games as often as we can. As for summer - it is really important to come into season in top shape. It is so much easier to just jump into practices and get back into the swing of things. Back home, I do a training program called Velocity four or five times a week. It is probably the hardest hour and a half ever, but so worth it. I also practice with my younger sister's high school team, several times a week.

What are you going to do after you graduate from CMU?

KS: I really enjoy school, so I wouldn't mind going to graduate school for
anthropology. However, if I don't end up going to graduate school, I would
like to get a design job in a major city - Boston, New York or Chicago.
Ideally, I would like to be an interior space designer or do magazine
layout.

What are some of the most valuable things you have learned from being a student-athlete at CMU?

KS: Everyone at CMU is pretty divided in terms of friends. Everyone tends to hang out with people from their majors, just because they spend so much time together doing work and share many of the same classes. Being a student-athlete has given me the opportunity to branch out and make friends with so many different groups of people. Our athletic community is so close - like one big family - so it is really easy to meet tons of different people through them.

How would you describe the team's style of play? What do you like about it?

KS: Our team definitely plays a possession game. We are really good at holding onto the ball in the back and midfield until we find a good opportunity to play it forward. We definitely try to string as many passes together as possible. I like how we play possession, because we make very few mistakes in the back and are really active in the front. The forwards will make runs before the ball is played up, which is really confusing for the other team's defense. Also, the fact that we are so good at keeping possession of the ball really wears down and frustrates other teams.

What do you think are realistic goals for our program next year? What are some of your personal goals?

KS: Ultimately we would like to make it to the NCAAs. We have been so close over the past three years, and definitely feel like it's about time we make an appearance! Also, I think we would all like to start the season off stronger than we did this past year. We improved a little bit each game last season, which is great, but I think that it took us a little while to really get things going. That's why we all agree that it is important to come back in top shape and get used to playing with each other as soon as possible! As for me, I would like to make it to the NCAAs and also beat the number of points I got this past season. It would just be nice to be able to say that my last season of soccer was my most successful.