NEW YORK -- When Tracey Bartholomew is recruiting a student-athlete to Columbia Women's Soccer program, she's not only looking for great players, but great students. Add in a championship pedigree, and it's the ideal Lion.
Enter Players Development Academy (PDA) and The Pingry School, and the eighth-year Columbia coach has found herself a fertile recruiting ground in the New York City campus' backyard.
Established in 1998, PDA is a premier development academy located in central New Jersey, competing throughout the northeast and mid-Atlantic states, as well as highly competitive tournaments nationally. Competing — and winning — at the highest level both nationally and internationally, the program pumps out athletes to the top collegiate teams, national teams and/or professional soccer teams.
Founded in 1861, Pingry is a K-12, co-ed, independent day school with rigorous academics with the upper school in Basking Ridge, N.J., set in the rolling hills and woods of Somerset County on a 192 acre campus a 40-minute drive on route 78 to midtown Manhattan. Already a breeding ground for the Ivy League universities on academics alone, Pingry has several renowned high school athletic programs, including a perennial state championship winner in girls' soccer.
"When you're trying to teach winning in your program and you're a player used to winning — that's amazing. You come in with those certain attributes," Bartholomew said. "You get upset when you don't win, so you fight a little bit harder to win games. Part of our plan was always to bring in the players that were from those programs that also had the work rate and that we're looking forward to getting better every day too."
Bartholomew and her staff of assistant coaches Amphone Keovongmanysar and Joshua Osit have gotten a coup the last few years, with four Pingry students and PDA players joining the program. Due to last year's canceled season, all are making their debut season and the high school classmates have had their foot in all of Columbia's (5-4-1) wins.
First, Sophomore forward Nata Ramirez scored the lone goal on an assist from freshman midfielder Sophia Cavaliere to beat Bucknell for the season's first win. Then sophomore forward Madi Pilla had the golden goal in a double overtime win at La Salle in a 2-1 comeback.
Cavaliere had a goal while Pilla and Ramirez each chipped in with an assist in the 3-0 win at Fairleigh Dickinson. Cavaliere had the opening goal against Seton Hall on an assist from Pilla, while Ramirez had a penalty kick goal midway through the second half to put the game away for the 2-0 win. Ramirez had the lone goal in the shutout over Quinnipiac and Columbia's fifth win in a row.
Overall, the trio has combined for nine of the 12 goals and 15 of the team's 23 overall points. Sophomore midfielder Ola Weber, who rounds out the quartet of Pingry alumnae, has begun earning playing time as of late.
Maddie Temares 'SEAS 20, who played with Ramirez at PDA and helped win a State Championship at Pingry, started the trend.
Ramirez, the speedy 5-1 attacker who may be the best offensive player on the team, played with the others the least at Pingry. A current U20 Colombian National Team member, she played in both the U17 Colombian National Team for the World Cup Qualifiers and the 2018 U17 World Cup.
Still, having familiar faces around has helped the transition to the college game and life, on the pitch and in and out of the classroom. While Ramirez only played varsity soccer her freshman and sophomore year, missing her junior season and taking a gap year to make her a fifth year senior, she did get the chance to play with Pilla, both at the varsity level and club circuit.
"It's always nice to have a teammate from home," Ramirez said. "I know her game, she knows my game so we just have a very strong connection, both on and off the field. It's just great knowing faces on and off the field and being familiar with the four girls."
The entire group agrees.
"I feel so much more comfortable," said Cavaliere, who helped Pingry win three straight State Championships as an All-State player. "Coming into an environment like this is very challenging, but I know I feel comfortable on the ball knowing I have players I played with. We know how eachother plays so as we get more comfortable with other people we're going to be really unstoppable this year. Off the field we have great chemistry as a team. We're all best friends and I think that plays onto the field."
No one is closer than Pilla and Weber. Admittedly competing rivals when they first became classmates and teammates in middle school, the two have grown inseparable.
"It's been very helpful," said Weber, who transferred from NYU to Barnard this fall. Osit, who has been a PDA coach since 2012 and Columbia assistant since 2014, helped Weber during her recruitment in high school, and when she decided to transfer.
"Madi and I feel like we were in virtually every single class together at Pingry so we're able to help each other. She's pre-med and I'm business and economics so we're doing different things. We're no longer in the same classes, but we just know each other. We know how we work and when we're stressed and stuff, so we're always giving each other advice. It's just a good situation."
One they were prepped for together.
"Pingry is a great academic school and prepared me really well for college. Having to deal with school being at a high level school, and also balancing athletics with it was really important because you learn how to be in a high level program, but also balance the rest of your life out," Pilla said. "The great thing about Pingry is we're in a really good conference just like how Columbia is in the Ivy, which is a really great conference, so you always know you're going to have good competition. You always know you need to come out and be confident and perform, so it's basically a direct translation of going from Pingry to Columbia."
Something the head coach sees in recruiting, and hopes carries over in more ways than one.
"Pingry is a great school, so that part is a win-win...I can remember going to one of their NJ state [playoff] games and seeing them compete with all their parents and fans supporting them. The energy and excitement at the school was thrilling and I felt that they could see something similar and familiar at Columbia. Over the past few years we've had awesome crowds of young players and families and we hope to continue the atmosphere and signing of autographs post games, with the hope of the Pingry players being stars for those young players too," Bartholomew said. "One of the things that I love about Columbia is you know you're really recruiting outstanding students, but we also recruit outstanding top D-I talented soccer players too. They are outstanding in both areas which lends itself to success on the field and off."
And lots of it so far. Which has the high school teammate's college coach liking what she sees from her young proteges after an 0-2-1 start to the season followed by a five game win streak.
"For me, one of the reasons I got into coaching was to help guide women and to help them believe they could achieve anything they put their mind to. When they find little wins and great moments, I get those proud moments too. Especially after you see them struggle at first but eventually overcome challenges. I feel like a parent at times," Bartholomew said. "You see moments where they're new to things and struggling, yet they find a way to preserve. I love seeing them get the goal they want to score or the assist that helps us win a game, which ultimately rewards themselves."
"One of the things I like most about them is they are driven to get better every day and they have goals for themselves too. Our staff and recruits always talk in the recruiting process; we want players that want to be great at both school and sport and for them, that was easy. They're all good players and obviously great students. They're enjoying these extra years together as well, which has been fun to see their chemistry and connections."
Matt Sugam has been covering sports in the NYC Metropolitan area for over a decade. He has spent the last eight years covering college and professional sports as a stringer for the Associated Press, while also contributing to The New York Times, USA Today Network, NJ.com, and SNY.tv. He will be covering Lions Athletics for gocolumbialions.com while pursuing an M.S. in Strategic Communication at Columbia's School of Professional Studies. Follow him on Twitter @MattSugam
