?You?ve got to take the good with the bad, smile with the sad, love what you got and remember what you had. Always forgive but never forget. Learn from mistakes, but never regret.?
According to her profile on the Towson athletics Web site, Shannon Witzel refers to that mental stance as her favorite quote. It might also have served as a calming influence as she played with a very young, inexperienced group last season.
But this year, as she closes in on a number of school records, Witzel is going to enjoy her final season with the Tigers.
“It flew by,” Witzel said of her time at Towson. “I feel like I?m still a sophomore. I don?t feel like I?m a senior.”
But she takes her role as a senior on the team seriously.
“She has done a tremendous job in working with the younger players so that we develop into an overall threatening team in 2007,” Towson coach Missy Doherty said on the team?s Web site.
Witzel entered the season third on the program?s all-time career pointslist, and needs just 30 goals to surpass the Towson career record. She scored three goals in the opener, and will look to tack on some more points today when the Tigers visit Penn at 1 p.m.
“That would definitely be nice to get the record. Its not something I?m focusing on. I just want to focus on having fun this year and enjoying my last year on the team. This is one experience I won?t get again.”
If she has her way, the records will fall while the Tigers rise.
“Hopefully if we keep winning those goals will be a byproduct of a good year,” Witzel said.
Towson went 7-10 in 2006 with a lineup that routinely included six or seven freshman starters. This season, Witzel is one of just three seniors on the Towson roster. She?s using her experience to help lead her underclassmen teammates.
“I like to always show my point of view on the field, but I really try to lead by example,” Witzel said.
She certainly has the credentials, after back-to-back-to-back seasons of 40-plus goals. She scored 71 as a sophomore and 61 last season after a breakout freshman campaign with 44. With that in mind, she was named to the Teewaaraton Trophy preseason watch list.
“Its nice, there are only so many players put on the list each year ? so obviously that?s an accomplishment for me to be on the list two years in a row,” Witzel said.
She was a three-sport athlete at Pottstown (Pa.) High, and still occasionally plays pick-up basketball at Burdick Hall on Towson?s campus. She?s also a huge Towson football fan.
But she almost went to Drexel. If not for the influence of her mother ? who didn?t like Drexel?s urban location ? Witzel wouldn?t have been able to experience the change that has come to the Towson athletic program.
“I think it?s changed because the school is growing so much,” Witzel said.
So too, is Witzel?s game, and in turn, the Tigers? program.
THE WITZEL FILE
» Age: 21
» Position: Attack
» Height: 5-foot-9
» Hometown: Pottstown, Pa.
» Did you know? Witzel dished out 13 assists in each of the last two seasons ? Witzel has scored seven goals in a game on two occasions ? Towson teammate Lauren Cassel, a junior defender, played lacrosse, field hockey and basketball with Witzel at Pottstown High.
