Florida midfielder Kitty Cullen has received a lot of honors this season. As the national leader in goals (61) and goals per game (4.69), she has been recognized as the WomensLacrosse.com National Offensive Player of the Week and the American Lacrosse Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week three times in seven weeks.
And the best part? She’s only a sophomore.
GatorCountry.com caught up with the Rockville, Md. native to find out what she’s like off the field.
Q: How proud is your family that you were named National Offensive Player of the Week?
A: They’re so proud. My dad, he has a lot of work down here in Jacksonville, so to be able to tell all of them is really exciting. I think it’s just a good thing for the program in general to show other schools that we’re here to compete. It’s also good for recruiting, because younger kids are looking up to us.
Q: Speaking of recruiting, why did you choose Florida?
A: It was kind of weird I guess because they didn’t have this great facility, they didn’t have the team at all. I just came here and fell in love with it. I love the weather and I just love the coaching staff. When we sat down with [athletic director] Jeremy Foley on my visit, he just really got to me. He was saying ‘this is what a Gator is, this is why we want you, we want the best,’ and stuff like that. I just really fell in love with it right when I came.
Q: How have you developed as a player from last season to now?
A: Last year, being a freshman was so hard. I couldn’t believe the things that we were doing, and the conditioning we did. Every day I was like, I can’t believe I’m even alive anymore, I don’t know how people do this for four years. It was crazy! And then coming in this year, being a sophomore and just being so much more mature and going into things knowing that you can do it, and having more confidence has really helped a lot. And the addition of [assistant coach] Caitlyn McFadden has helped, she was such a great player. Her and [assistant coach Erica LaGrow] have both helped me a lot with finishing my shots.
Q: What kind of mindset do you have going into a game?
A: I definitely get really nervous. I have a lot of little superstitious things that I always do. I always know I have to play hard for my teammates. Otherwise, if I don’t go hard, it might not be such a big outcome.
Q: You guys have really meshed as a team this year. Can you talk about your team on the field and off the field?
A: Off the field, I don’t know if any other team has chemistry like we do. We’re all best friends, we go everywhere together. Some people are like, “Oh there are the lacrosse girls.” We’re all together everywhere we go. And we’re all just best friends. It’s nice because we’re all the same age so it’s a little different than other schools, but it’s really showing on the field how well we’re meshing and coming together.
Q: And what do you like to do outside of playing lacrosse?
A: I guess just hang out. Whenever we get time to relax is really nice, we go to the pool and lay out. All of my friends up north get jealous when I tell them I’m at the pool. I’m always with my team and always surrounded by them, and being able to relax is fun.
Cullen and the No. 6 Gators (12-1, 3-0 ALC) take on No. 2 Northwestern (12-0, 2-0) on Thursday, April 14 at 6:30 p.m. at Dizney Stadium with each team looking to lock up the top seed in the ALC tournament.