Here To Stay
Suero, Valenti committed as ever as Penn State careers nearing end
A new college signing window will open next week. In the subsequent weeks and months, the pages of the Mercury and most every other newspaper here and beyond will be littered with many, many college signing photos.
You know them: student-athlete flanked by family and coaches, holding a pen to paper, a smile filled with big dreams and unknown potential.
Dreams and potential are wonderful and uplifting. But they also only take you so far.
Because after the grin-and-grip ends, the real hard work begins.
Through years of tracking the progress of those signers in the college ranks, the high number that transfer or quit altogether never ceases to disappoint.
It’s true, of course, that no one is required to play college sports. But with the level of commitment studentathletes give to their sports today, it feels fitting for them to play to the final whistle.
There’s any number of reasons why players transfer or quit: academic priority, need to work, coaching change, dissatisfaction with playing time and myriad other reasons.
For some, even if it ‘may not be the journey I wanted’, it’s a commitment worth fighting for.
*** If there was an All-Decade Team for Mercury area girls’ soccer, Laura Suero and Sarafina Valenti would be two of the first names on the list.
Suero starred at Spring-Ford, was a three-time Mercury All-Area first team selection and was All-Area Player of the Year as a senior. That year was the culmination of the Rams’ three-year run that featured trips to the PIAA championship (2013), semifinals (2014) and quarterfinals (2015).
Boyertown goalkeeping great Valenti was a fellow three-time All-Area first team choice, recorded 52 shutouts as the Bears’ backstop and was a Regional All-American as a senior in 2015.
Those brimming resumes opened a longer list of college prospects than most. But they ended up on the same wavelength: they headed to Happy Valley.
Four years after being the area’s two PSCA All-State selections in 2015, Suero and Valenti’s college careers with the Penn State women’s soccer team are nearing conclusion.
The bulk of those careers have been spent on the sideline supporting teammates between the whistles rather than on the field. Even for two of the area’s elite of recent history, it’s a great big world out there.
Back as freshmen, they joined a top-tier NCAA program, and a couple months later were celebrating an NCAA championship.
Suero appeared in 15 matches and Valenti played twice in their rookie seasons. In the subsequent years, playing time didn’t take a steady, upward trajectory like they might have hoped.
Now as seniors, Suero is in her first year starting for the Nittany Lions, holding down the right back position. She’s started 18 of 21 matches for Penn State (14-6-1) and helped it to seven shutouts and the championship of the Big Ten tournament after Sunday’s 2-1 overtime win over Michigan in the title game at Rutgers University.
Valenti has been the backup in her four seasons: she’s logged 112 minutes this fall while playing in five games, the No. 2 behind classmate Amanda Dennis.
It couldn’t have been the course they envisioned when they put pen to paper back in high school, but it doesn’t change their satisfaction about their time as Nittany Lions.
“This ride has been a rollercoaster,” Suero said after Penn State’s Big Ten semifinal win over Purdue on Friday. “From freshman year getting little minutes to senior year now starting, it’s been a rollercoaster, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ve learned so much, and my teammates have inspired me to be better on and off the field and it’s an honor to play for them, for those who came before us, which is one of our mottos, and to give everything for them, for my family, for my coaches.”
Suero, a two-time Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner, earned a coveted starting spot this fall; Valenti remains ready if her time comes.
“I’ve been the backup all four years,” Valenti said. “Everyone wants to play. I never wanted to be in this role, but I got here and it was really competitive and every day is so competitive. I ended up being the No. 2 and you kind of have to take your role as it is.
“Even if I could compete in practice or even when I get those minutes, I’m still grateful for those minutes I do get. And if something happens, I’m always ready.”
As opposed to student-athletes recruited to schools they had rarely heard of, the allure of Penn State – as sought-after an institution as there is for many families in Pennsylvania (and that’s coming from a Pitt grad) – didn’t hurt their decisions to stay the course.
“I love Penn State. I’m ‘Penn State ’til I die’ as we always say,” Valenti said. “I never wanted to leave the university, I definitely wanted to keep playing.
“You just have to go in with the mindset that it may not be the journey you wished for coming into college, but nothing is ever going to be perfect. Nothing is going to be exactly what you expect.”
The step up to the college level is accompanied by a reality check – and it spares nearly no one.
“In high school and club, you’re the best of the best. And then you come here and everyone’s good. It’s not that you get put in your place, but you learn about yourself and other people and you have to take a step back,” Suero said.
“I never thought that this wasn’t the place for me. It was challenging coming off the bench, but you overcome those challenges and know that you’re here for the right reasons. And that’s what kept me going and focused.”
Both stayed focused in other facets: Suero was Academic All-Big Ten the past two seasons and will graduate early, in December, with a degree in recreation, park, and tourism management with hopes of landing a job in sports. Valenti, a security & risk analysis major, already has her next step planned after graduating in May: she’s accepted a position on the global services team at medical technology company Becton Dickinson in northern New Jersey, where she interned last summer.
They would have called it improbable in their high school years, yet Suero and Valenti became great friends who could lean on each other.
“Laura’s one of my best friends. In high school you wouldn’t have expected it. We were such rivals in high school,” Valenti said. “Every time she got any ball you put in the box, but now I’m so grateful for that.”
“It went from rivals to best friends. We hang out all the time and we’re so close,” Suero said. “She’s kept me going through this whole experience. She’s been an awesome friend, awesome teammate and is part of my family now. It’s been awesome sharing this experience with her.”
Because even when you’re no longer the star player, sports and being part of a team are a beautiful thing. And it’s worth fighting for.
“Keep working hard. No matter the situation, (the keys are) hard work, being a good person and being a good teammate,” Suero said of her advice to student-athletes. “Keep being there for your teammates and give it all you’ve got. It will come if you work hard for it. Everything will come into place. Don’t get down on yourself. Keep driving your teammates and they’ll keep driving you.”