Less than a month into the official recruitment process, Fayetteville-Manlius’ Julianna Cogliandro made her college decision.
That decision will have her playing Division I lacrosse for Duke.
Since Cogliandro is just a junior in high school, schools could not contact her directly until Sept. 1. Duke reached out as soon as they could, and Cogliandro decided that the Blue Devils were the team for her.
“When I took my visit there, it had everything. I mean, I fell in love with it,” Cogliandro said.
Cogliandro said other schools she considered included Syracuse, UConn, Richmond, Michigan and Penn. Cogliandro said she considered factors other than lacrosse and Duke was the school that fit all of her wants.
“They just have everything. They have high academics. And playing in the ACC has always been a dream of mine, so that was a big thing, too,” Cogliandro said. “And they have school spirit, which was like my number one thing going into this process. It’s not the biggest school, but you get that big school feel there and I just could just see myself there.”
Cogliandro also felt a strong connection to the coaching staff.
“They have been in contact with me multiple times throughout the week, just checking in on how I’m doing,” she said. “They really care about you and as a person before a player, and I’ve just built a really great relationship with them throughout this process.”
With Cogliandro being a junior, she still has two high school seasons left before stepping foot on campus, but she is relieved to have her college plans settled and is excited to see what opportunities come for her teammates.
“I think the opportunity to play at a higher level is super exciting,” Cogliandro said. “To see me and my teammates all grow and leave each other someday and go out to new schools, it’s just kind of a cool thing to see us all move on to the next chapter soon and just play at a higher level and compete on the big stage.”
With her college decision behind her, the All-CNY midfielder is looking forward to getting on the field this fall and building on F-M’s success from a season ago.
“I’m super excited. I think we have a lot of potential. The seniors that graduated last year left something big and I think I’m really excited to see how we build onto that.”
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