Leading the Cabrini women’s lacrosse team in ground balls and draw controls, senior elementary education major Christina Romano hopes to end her final season as a CSAC champion.
Romano, known as Romie by her friends and teammates, said, “This is my last year and I’m really working hard to win the championship with the team. Being a senior, this is my last chance.”
Three years in a row the team lost in the finals. Romano believes that Cabrini has a good chance this year of winning.
Romano has been playing lacrosse since her freshman year of high school at St. Hubert Catholic High School in Philadelphia, Pa.
She has played on the lacrosse team and soccer team throughout all four years at Cabrini.
“She has been an asset to our defense since she arrived here at Cabrini,” head lacrosse coach Jackie Neary said. “She always works hard and forces our offensive players to elevate their game.”
In the 2008 lacrosse season, Romano earned first team all-conference distinction.
“In my eyes, she is a truly dedicated player and gives it 110 percent at all times, no matter how she feels,” Romano’s mother, Janice Romano, said. “She really cares about her team and wants them to do good and win. I cannot imagine what her college years would have been like without lacrosse and the friends she has made.”
Romano said that what she loves most about Cabrini lacrosse is the bonds she has formed with the players and coaches.
“They’ve become my family,” Romano said. “I would be no one without them.”
Romano’s favorite memories with the team include traveling to Florida over spring break each year for training, which has brought the team closer together. “And of course, 6 a.m. practices,” she said.
Like most athletes, Romano has a routine that she does before the start of every game. In order to get pumped up for a game, she will share headphones with best friend and teammate Chrissy Regan and listen to “Juicy” by Notorius B.I.G. This has been a tradition since freshmen year.
“After warming up, I will also do some intense passing for 10 minutes with Chrissy to get us going before the game,” Romano said.
Romano and Regan have been playing sports together since high school.
“She’s a big force on defense and I don’t know what I would do without her on the field,” Regan, senior biology and pre-med major, said.
Neary describes Romano as a team player who communicates well with her teammates during games and also takes care of the ball during crucial situations. “She knows it’s going to take the entire team this season in order for us to do well,” Neary said.
Neary also calls Romano a “triple-threat”-academically, athletically and socially.
“As I sit in the bleachers and watch my daughter playing on a team with such a high caliber of talent, I could not be more proud,” Romano’s mother said. “I am in awe of her accomplishments both in lacrosse and soccer. She has truly shown us that anything is possible if you want it bad enough.”
