WEST CHESTER, Pa.- West Chester women's soccer player
Maggie Lena (Santa Monica, Cal./Santa Monica) represented Team USA and West Chester University at the Maccabi Games and helped lead Team USA to a Gold medal and eventually earned MVP honors at the conclusion of the Tournament.
"The opportunity to compete in Israel and represent my culture, country, teams, and my family was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Lena. "Soccer to me has always been more than just my passion, I truly love the game, and it is a language to me. It is amazing how you can go anywhere in the world and communicate through the sport, which makes it so special. For the games to be played in Israel, which is such a holy and beautiful place makes it even more special and is truly unlike anything else in the world for me," continued Lena.
The Maccabiah Games are an Olympic Style Tournament that brings Jewish athletes from around the world together for three weeks in July and is among the top international sporting events in the world. Over 8,200 Americans have participated in the Maccabiah Games in Israel, including almost 100 US Olympians. The 2022 edition of the Games, which featured approximately 10,000 athletes from over 60 countries, was the largest ever, as athletes competed in 38 different branches of sport over the course of the three weeks.
The 2022 Open team, which was comprised of players from all three levels of NCAA college soccer and recent graduates, came together through a process similar to the creation of many national teams, with tryouts occurring the year prior and the team coming together again in advance of the games for a week of training before the first game. Lena spoke highly of the leadership of the players and coaching staff, which was comprised of Jeff Katz, the Associate women's soccer head coach at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (DIII), and Sydney Kahan, an assistant coach and goalkeeper coach at Tufts (DIII), as the team meshed and came together quickly in order to make its eventual Gold-medal run.
Lena and her teammates completed a 3-1 run through pool play, which saw them defeat Brazil (3-0), Argentina (2-0), and Canada (1-0) while falling to host nation Israel by a 3-2 final before defeating Canada (5-0) once again in the semifinals and setting up a rematch with Israel in the finals. In pool play, Lena was a major factor for Team USA, scoring three goals over the course of the four matches, tallying a pair of goals vs. Israel before scoring the lone goal necessary in the victory over Canada to conclude pool play. Lena also added a pair of assists in the semifinal victory over Canada before shifting back into a defensive midfield role in the finals vs. Israel.
In the final match vs Israel, Team USA jumped out to an early lead, scoring the first goal of the contest in the 41
st minute, but this lead was short-lived as Israel answered back with a tally of its own in the 42
nd minute. The game remained locked at 1-1 until the 91
st minute when Rachel Dallet (Wisconsin) scored the eventual game-winner in the 2-1 victory. Lena played the full 90 minutes in this final match, playing primarily outside of the Center Forward spot, which she had occupied throughout the first five matches of the Tournament, playing instead in a Center Defensive Mid position for much of the match. Lena described important tactical changes made over the course of this match, explaining, "We began the match with different tactics then what we had employed throughout much of Pool play, as we tried to make adjustments after our Pool match vs Israel but shifted back to our original formation as the match progressed, which eventually led to the victory."
With preseason training beginning in less than a week, Lena was asked about how this experience would help her to prepare for her final collegiate season ahead; she said, "I'm already one of the oldest and one of the more experienced players on the team as I'm entering my sixth season, so having had this amazing summer just adds to that. What made this team great what the culture, humility, and unification, which I was fortunate to play a part in at the Games, so I'm very excited to bring this back to West Chester and hopefully be someone my teammates can look to. At this point in my college soccer career, I've been through it all, so I pride myself on being a dependable person for my team and trying to be the best person I can be, day-in and day-out," stated Lena.
The sixth-year Golden Ram concluded by saying, "These last three weeks were truly the three best weeks of my life. Having the opportunity to travel to Israel, such an important place in Judaism, see such amazing places (such as Yad Vashem-Israel's official memorial to Holocaust victims, the Dead Sea-to name a few), and be a part of the amazing culture while also playing the game I love was truly amazing. I also want to play professionally overseas after my collegiate career is over, so the opportunity to gain exposure the last few weeks and show my skills was terrific as well."
Lena and the Golden Rams return to action on August 25
th with their season opener vs Jefferson on Rockwell Field beginning at 1 p.m.
