Each week, The Baltimore Sun will publish a Q&A with a college lacrosse player or coach. This week's guest is Loyola senior attacker Hannah Schmitt. A team captain and three-time all-conference selection, the Malvern, Pa., native leads the defending Patriot League champion and No. 19 Greyhounds in scoring with 26 goals and six assists. She recently cracked Loyola's all-time Top 10 list with 140 career goals. She is the first recipient of the Diane Geppi-Aikens Women's Lacrosse Endowed Scholarship, in honor of the late Greyhounds coach.
Your father was an All-America football player at Delaware and played a year in the NFL. Were sports always encouraged in your family when you were young?
Definitely. When we were younger, we got a feel for all the sports. My dad left it up to us to pick which ones suited us the best, the ones we had the most fun with. I played basketball, field hockey, soccer and lacrosse growing up. Even some T-ball was in there. He had us doing it all at a pretty young age.
Of all those sports, why was lacrosse the one you stuck with?
I stuck with lacrosse because it was something I could, with my speed. I could run with the ball in my stick without worrying about it falling out. When it came to soccer and field hockey, I was only good at them because I could kick the ball and run after it or hit the ball and run after it. I had no control over the ball. I felt like lacrosse had that easy balance between my speed and being able to control the ball.
Loyola was up and down early in the season with three close losses to Top 10 teams, but you seem to have steadied things with an overtime win at No. 7 Virginia and a 3-0 start in the Patriot League. What turned things around?
We definitely needed that win. Starting off, the thing that was most frustrating with those games was that we were there, we kept up with those teams, those top-level teams. It was reassuring that we could stick with them. That's the mentality that we took into UVa a couple weeks ago — and also knowing that we beat them last year by the amount that we did (16-12) — it was that confidence going in, that we've done it before and we can do it again. Right now we're 5-4, so we're slowly turning our season around and we're hoping it stays in the direction that it's going.
When you played Penn State, your sister Natalie played defense against you but you scored three goals. Knowing her so well, how did that affect your game?
First of all, Natalie has never been a low defender and it was so funny because I hadn't seen her play. I wanted to beat her so bad, but I wanted her to succeed because I'm so proud of her, how well she's been doing this year. During the game, I'm trying to get in her head and try to make her laugh and she was trying so hard to stay focused. She played so well, but I was glad I could sneak those three goals on her. It was so exciting. My whole family was in the stands, extended family as well, and they got T-shirts made. It was like a holiday for the Schmitt family.
What do you hope to accomplish in your remaining time at Loyola?
Definitely move farther in the NCAA tournament than we've gotten. Since my first year, we've gotten to the same exact round every year (the second round). Obviously our goal every year is getting to the final four, but something I definitely want to do is advance further than we've gotten. Also as a captain this year, putting in as much work and dedication as I can with my team and leading them to where we need to be. It's kind of cool my senior year that I am one of the leaders on the team, so I just want to be the best leader I can be.
What did it mean to you to be the first to receive the Diane Geppi-Aikens scholarship?
That was amazing. It was such an honor for people to now think of my name whenever Diane is brought up. Diane has been such an inspiration. Even though I didn't know Diane, it's awesome to pay with [Geppi-Aiken's daughter] Shannon, because I'm able to see what kind of person Diane was through Shannon. Shannon is the most positive, most passionate girl I've ever met and she obviously gets that from Diane. It's an amazing opportunity and I'm so grateful for it, because Diane means so much to this program.
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