TicketsCINCINNATI -- University of Cincinnati senior attacker Kylie Nause was the AAC Freshman of the Year in 2019, collecting a UC rookie record of 10 hat tricks while leading all league freshmen with 41 goals and 45 points. But her first fall semester was not as one would expect.
In her last high school game, Nause suffered two injuries in the same play: a sprained ACL and bone bruise in her knee. These injuries lingered into the fall of her freshman year at UC.
"I was out for the first month and a half," said Nause, a native of Phoenix, Md.
Unfortunately the injuries did not stop there. Nause's knee finally healed up and she was able to play and practice until another injury struck.
"When I came back, I played for about three weeks in the fall, and then I got a stress fracture in my foot," she said. "I was out for about eight weeks."
It was hard for Nause to get acclimated to the team and her teammates since she was not able to play with them in the fall. Coming in as a freshman, this made her transition from high school to college even tougher.
"It was difficult because I had not played a lot that fall," she said. "I felt like everyone had chemistry with each other and I was just watching from the sideline. It also motivated me to get back even quicker so that I could play as much as a could."
With Nause not being able to participate in the fall, she knew she had to get ready and be healthy for the upcoming season in the spring, despite still being in a boot upon her winter-break return.
Nause knew she needed to work hard because the season was quickly approaching in February, and she wanted to play.
"I had to work really hard to get back to full strength," she said. "I knew that if I worked hard and just kept putting in work that I would eventually get there and have the skills needed to impact the team."
Nause more than had the skills needed to impact the team. Eventually she became healthy and was able to play her freshman season, and the rest was history.
Her sophomore season was cut short due to COVID-19, but she had an impactful junior year, scoring the third-most goals on the team (31). She has 79 career goals, which ranks seventh in school history.
Before going into her senior season, Nause reflected on her first three seasons with the team.
"My first three years were honestly so fun," she said. "Being able to play with a bunch of different girls and making it to the conference tournament twice was super fun."
This upcoming season the team will have a new look. With 12 seniors graduating in 2021, Nause will be pressed into her biggest duty yet. Some may look at this as a tough challenge, but this is just another chapter to the journey.
"I'm definitely looking forward to it," she said. "I'm really excited because every year brings a different opportunity and having so many new girls is going to benefit us."
Nause looks to keep leading by example as the season comes along. She hopes her teammates follow in her footsteps so that they can have a successful season.
"It is a fresh team and I feel like the seniors and upperclassmen have been working hard," she said. "I'm hoping that we have paved the way for everyone, for showing them how to work hard, and hopefully that will allow us to win."
Nause said she learned about leadership from the group of seniors last year. She is striving to implement what they taught her so that she can be the best leader she can.
"I definitely learned a lot from them," said Nause. "They were very vocal leaders and they also led by example which is something I strive to do."
With her senior year approaching, she is striving to implement everything she experienced and learned the last three years so that the team can have a successful year.
"Personally, I just want to be a leader on and off the field, both vocally and by example," she said. "I just hope to help my team win."
The team has some goals for the upcoming season that they hope to accomplish.
"Our standards for this year is that we want a winning record, we want to make it to conference, and win the conference tournament," she said.
When her lacrosse career ends, Nause has an idea of what she wants to do afterwards.
"My major is speech, language, and hearing sciences," she said. "I am going to become a speech-language pathologist."
The Bearcats open their season at Marquette on Feb. 12, with their first home game on Wednesday, Feb. 16 against Ohio State (4 p.m.) in Nippert Stadium.
In her last high school game, Nause suffered two injuries in the same play: a sprained ACL and bone bruise in her knee. These injuries lingered into the fall of her freshman year at UC.
"I was out for the first month and a half," said Nause, a native of Phoenix, Md.
Unfortunately the injuries did not stop there. Nause's knee finally healed up and she was able to play and practice until another injury struck.
"When I came back, I played for about three weeks in the fall, and then I got a stress fracture in my foot," she said. "I was out for about eight weeks."
It was hard for Nause to get acclimated to the team and her teammates since she was not able to play with them in the fall. Coming in as a freshman, this made her transition from high school to college even tougher.
"It was difficult because I had not played a lot that fall," she said. "I felt like everyone had chemistry with each other and I was just watching from the sideline. It also motivated me to get back even quicker so that I could play as much as a could."
With Nause not being able to participate in the fall, she knew she had to get ready and be healthy for the upcoming season in the spring, despite still being in a boot upon her winter-break return.
Nause knew she needed to work hard because the season was quickly approaching in February, and she wanted to play.
"I had to work really hard to get back to full strength," she said. "I knew that if I worked hard and just kept putting in work that I would eventually get there and have the skills needed to impact the team."
Nause more than had the skills needed to impact the team. Eventually she became healthy and was able to play her freshman season, and the rest was history.
Her sophomore season was cut short due to COVID-19, but she had an impactful junior year, scoring the third-most goals on the team (31). She has 79 career goals, which ranks seventh in school history.
Before going into her senior season, Nause reflected on her first three seasons with the team.
"My first three years were honestly so fun," she said. "Being able to play with a bunch of different girls and making it to the conference tournament twice was super fun."
This upcoming season the team will have a new look. With 12 seniors graduating in 2021, Nause will be pressed into her biggest duty yet. Some may look at this as a tough challenge, but this is just another chapter to the journey.
"I'm definitely looking forward to it," she said. "I'm really excited because every year brings a different opportunity and having so many new girls is going to benefit us."
Nause looks to keep leading by example as the season comes along. She hopes her teammates follow in her footsteps so that they can have a successful season.
"It is a fresh team and I feel like the seniors and upperclassmen have been working hard," she said. "I'm hoping that we have paved the way for everyone, for showing them how to work hard, and hopefully that will allow us to win."
Nause said she learned about leadership from the group of seniors last year. She is striving to implement what they taught her so that she can be the best leader she can.
"I definitely learned a lot from them," said Nause. "They were very vocal leaders and they also led by example which is something I strive to do."
With her senior year approaching, she is striving to implement everything she experienced and learned the last three years so that the team can have a successful year.
"Personally, I just want to be a leader on and off the field, both vocally and by example," she said. "I just hope to help my team win."
The team has some goals for the upcoming season that they hope to accomplish.
"Our standards for this year is that we want a winning record, we want to make it to conference, and win the conference tournament," she said.
When her lacrosse career ends, Nause has an idea of what she wants to do afterwards.
"My major is speech, language, and hearing sciences," she said. "I am going to become a speech-language pathologist."
The Bearcats open their season at Marquette on Feb. 12, with their first home game on Wednesday, Feb. 16 against Ohio State (4 p.m.) in Nippert Stadium.