A student first
10/7/2015 2:19:00 PM | Women's Soccer, Student Athlete
By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Media Relations
Paige Elliott is truly a student first and athlete second. In fact, if she didn't end up at Lehigh, she likely would have never played soccer in college.
"People probably don't know that if I didn't go to Lehigh, I hadn't really pursued any other schools for soccer," she said. "I think I underestimated myself in recruiting. I didn't know if Division I soccer was for me. I really wanted to play soccer, but wanted to make sure I was competitive, really playing and making a difference."
Luckily for the Mountain Hawks, Elliott ended up at Lehigh and she has certainly made a difference. Now a senior, she has turned into as well-rounded a student-athlete as a coach could ask for. The most consistent force behind all her success is self and team accountability, an aspect of the Lehigh women's soccer program's recently-developed vision.
"Paige wants to get better every single day," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "She has a toughness about her, which is something she's developed over her four years. One of the things we talk about as a team is refusing to accept anything less than our absolute best. She doesn't make any excuses."
If you are accountable to yourself and to your teammates, whether it's on the soccer field or in the classroom, it creates a foundation for success. That self and team accountability is evident throughout Elliott's life.
"We trust Paige to do the right thing," said Lambinus. "She has great relationships with others, but when any type of situation comes up, she's going to make the decision that's not only in the best interest of her success, but also in the best interest of her team."
In many ways, Elliott fell into Lambinus' lap, due in large part to the strong reputation of Lehigh University.
"I first started looking at Lehigh because they had DI soccer, a good soccer program and really good engineering, so I contacted Coach Lambinus," said Elliott.
"When we're contacted by perspective student-athletes, our goal is to understand their interest and look into it," said Lambinus. "Paige is one of those perfect scenarios where she had an interest then as soon as we saw her play and got her academic information, we had a big interest. When we saw Paige play for the first time, we were really excited. I think we're fortunate because Lehigh has such a great reputation. She's almost like the perfect kid Lehigh would want to recruit."
Eventually, Elliott visited the Lehigh campus for a spring camp and she was immediately sold.
"It was beautiful," she said. "I got to see Coach's coaching style and really liked it."
Flash forward to today and Elliott's decision couldn't have worked out any better. She has enjoyed a stellar career, both on the field and in the classroom, with almost unparalleled success. Elliott currently owns a 3.98 cumulative GPA with only two A-'s her entire academic career, this as a Chemical Engineering major. She does it all while balancing athletics and other extracurricular activities. How does she do it?
Self and team accountability.
"I have an achievement mentality where I want to do my 100 percent best in everything I do," said Elliott. "If I think I can get an A in a class, I make sure I do what I can to make it happen. I believe my time management and focusing skill are some of my best attributes. If I'm taking the time to study, I'm not on social media or anything like that. I'm really not distracted at all."
For Elliott, it isn't about the quantity, but rather quality, of time spent doing schoolwork.
"I don't study massive amounts," said Elliott. "Some people might be in the library way later than me; I really can only function until 11:00. I don't stay up really late. I'll get up early if needed, but I'm extremely focused when I'm doing my work. I try to be an efficient studier, so I can still balance the rest of my life."
Elliott's "team" isn't just on the soccer field, but also in the classroom.
"I have made friends in my classes, so I'll do some studying on my own, but we'll often get together as a group and really work through problems with each other," she said. "Lehigh has been great in that people in my major aren't competitive with each other. We want to help each other do well."
Elliott has always been a math and science type of person, so she's known for a while that she wanted to pursue engineering.
"I think Chemical Engineering has the hardest math of any engineering," she said. "I do calculus on a regular basis, so I really like the math component. Mass transfer and heat transfer have probably been my favorite courses so far, which involve deriving our own equations using mass and energy balances. I'm also excited about my senior design project so far."
Elliott has put herself in a position to excel after college. Along with academics and athletics, she has also garnered some experience in the working world.
One particularly rewarding internship came this past summer when Elliott worked at Chattem, a pharmaceutical company based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
"The work was quite different than the chemical engineering analysis I'd been doing in school," she said. "It required a different set of problem solving skills, and I really enjoyed the work. I dealt a lot with emulsions, as Chattem makes lotions and shampoos."
Elliott worked with process development and technology transfer.
"While our group mostly worked with the pilot plant, I had the opportunity to work with the manufacturing equipment in the actual plants," she said. "I created equipment capability profiles for all the manufacturing rooms. I figured out the capabilities of each of the processors, took pictures of all the equipment and put together easy-to-use profiles for all types of employees to refer to."
On the soccer field, Elliott has thrived just as much as she has in the classroom. A first team All-Patriot League honoree as a freshman, she's been a mainstay on the Mountain Hawks' back line from day one. Elliott's self-awareness helped put her in a position to succeed right away.
"Paige knows her strengths and weaknesses, which helps players improve over a period of time," said Lambinus. "She's also a great leader by example, which can be an underrated trait. She's very consistent in everything she does. You can count on her to put in maximum effort every single day."
Characteristics which lead to success off the field also lead to success when lacing up her cleats. Life skills translate to athletics exceptionally well.
"Even as a freshmen, Paige was consistent in difficult situations, which gave herself the best opportunity to play and be successful," said Lambinus. "Her consistency and self-leadership is so important."
Elliott's road to Lehigh hasn't been typical, living in several different places, including outside of the country. Despite several moves, soccer has been a constant and a mainstay.
After beginning to play soccer at the age of five, Elliott moved to England when she was six.
"In England, they didn't really have girls' leagues," she said. "I was six or seven, playing on a 12-year old team. I couldn't play in the games because I was too small, but I trained with older kids because I loved the sport."
Elliott was actually born in North Carolina, then moved to England as part of her father's expat program with Duracell. From there, she moved to Massachusetts then Tennessee, where she currently resides.
"When I came back to Massachusetts around the age of nine, I started playing soccer competitively, both," said Elliott.
Now, everything has come full circle. Elliott learned how to adjust to her new surroundings and adjust to Lehigh successfully. She will continue to adjust to whatever comes her way.
"I'm planning on going into the industry right away rather than graduate school," said Elliott. "Engineers who go to graduate school will typically get their PhD. Those people are generally more interested in research and teaching, which isn't what I want to do. I like more of the hands-on stuff and I could see myself in more of a process engineering type of role. I'm still keeping my options open."
Perhaps the most powerful impact of Elliott's success has been the positive influence on not only her teammates, but also perspective student-athletes who are interested in playing soccer at Lehigh.
"When you have a student-athlete who is successful in one of our hardest majors, and is also successful on the soccer field, it gives belief to other players that they can do it," said Lambinus. "It recruits as well. A lot of recruits are always hesitant if they can effectively balance academics and athletics. Paige shows that you can."
The numbers are proving Elliott's impact.
"It's not surprising that we have more engineers on our team now than in the past because we've had success at it," said Lambinus. "Our student-athletes look up to Paige."
Elliott's all-around success comes down to one additional trait, which ties directly into the most consistent force behind her success… accountability.
"I believe I have an achievement personality," said Elliott. "The better you do now, the more you're going to learn and the more you're going to be set up for the future and have the types of opportunities that you want."
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Paige Elliott is truly a student first and athlete second. In fact, if she didn't end up at Lehigh, she likely would have never played soccer in college.
"People probably don't know that if I didn't go to Lehigh, I hadn't really pursued any other schools for soccer," she said. "I think I underestimated myself in recruiting. I didn't know if Division I soccer was for me. I really wanted to play soccer, but wanted to make sure I was competitive, really playing and making a difference."
Luckily for the Mountain Hawks, Elliott ended up at Lehigh and she has certainly made a difference. Now a senior, she has turned into as well-rounded a student-athlete as a coach could ask for. The most consistent force behind all her success is self and team accountability, an aspect of the Lehigh women's soccer program's recently-developed vision.
"Paige wants to get better every single day," said Lehigh head coach Eric Lambinus. "She has a toughness about her, which is something she's developed over her four years. One of the things we talk about as a team is refusing to accept anything less than our absolute best. She doesn't make any excuses."
If you are accountable to yourself and to your teammates, whether it's on the soccer field or in the classroom, it creates a foundation for success. That self and team accountability is evident throughout Elliott's life.
"We trust Paige to do the right thing," said Lambinus. "She has great relationships with others, but when any type of situation comes up, she's going to make the decision that's not only in the best interest of her success, but also in the best interest of her team."
In many ways, Elliott fell into Lambinus' lap, due in large part to the strong reputation of Lehigh University.
"I first started looking at Lehigh because they had DI soccer, a good soccer program and really good engineering, so I contacted Coach Lambinus," said Elliott.
"When we're contacted by perspective student-athletes, our goal is to understand their interest and look into it," said Lambinus. "Paige is one of those perfect scenarios where she had an interest then as soon as we saw her play and got her academic information, we had a big interest. When we saw Paige play for the first time, we were really excited. I think we're fortunate because Lehigh has such a great reputation. She's almost like the perfect kid Lehigh would want to recruit."
Eventually, Elliott visited the Lehigh campus for a spring camp and she was immediately sold.
"It was beautiful," she said. "I got to see Coach's coaching style and really liked it."
Flash forward to today and Elliott's decision couldn't have worked out any better. She has enjoyed a stellar career, both on the field and in the classroom, with almost unparalleled success. Elliott currently owns a 3.98 cumulative GPA with only two A-'s her entire academic career, this as a Chemical Engineering major. She does it all while balancing athletics and other extracurricular activities. How does she do it?
Self and team accountability.
"I have an achievement mentality where I want to do my 100 percent best in everything I do," said Elliott. "If I think I can get an A in a class, I make sure I do what I can to make it happen. I believe my time management and focusing skill are some of my best attributes. If I'm taking the time to study, I'm not on social media or anything like that. I'm really not distracted at all."
For Elliott, it isn't about the quantity, but rather quality, of time spent doing schoolwork.
"I don't study massive amounts," said Elliott. "Some people might be in the library way later than me; I really can only function until 11:00. I don't stay up really late. I'll get up early if needed, but I'm extremely focused when I'm doing my work. I try to be an efficient studier, so I can still balance the rest of my life."
Elliott's "team" isn't just on the soccer field, but also in the classroom.
"I have made friends in my classes, so I'll do some studying on my own, but we'll often get together as a group and really work through problems with each other," she said. "Lehigh has been great in that people in my major aren't competitive with each other. We want to help each other do well."
Elliott has always been a math and science type of person, so she's known for a while that she wanted to pursue engineering.
"I think Chemical Engineering has the hardest math of any engineering," she said. "I do calculus on a regular basis, so I really like the math component. Mass transfer and heat transfer have probably been my favorite courses so far, which involve deriving our own equations using mass and energy balances. I'm also excited about my senior design project so far."
Elliott has put herself in a position to excel after college. Along with academics and athletics, she has also garnered some experience in the working world.
One particularly rewarding internship came this past summer when Elliott worked at Chattem, a pharmaceutical company based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
"The work was quite different than the chemical engineering analysis I'd been doing in school," she said. "It required a different set of problem solving skills, and I really enjoyed the work. I dealt a lot with emulsions, as Chattem makes lotions and shampoos."
Elliott worked with process development and technology transfer.
"While our group mostly worked with the pilot plant, I had the opportunity to work with the manufacturing equipment in the actual plants," she said. "I created equipment capability profiles for all the manufacturing rooms. I figured out the capabilities of each of the processors, took pictures of all the equipment and put together easy-to-use profiles for all types of employees to refer to."
On the soccer field, Elliott has thrived just as much as she has in the classroom. A first team All-Patriot League honoree as a freshman, she's been a mainstay on the Mountain Hawks' back line from day one. Elliott's self-awareness helped put her in a position to succeed right away.
"Paige knows her strengths and weaknesses, which helps players improve over a period of time," said Lambinus. "She's also a great leader by example, which can be an underrated trait. She's very consistent in everything she does. You can count on her to put in maximum effort every single day."
Characteristics which lead to success off the field also lead to success when lacing up her cleats. Life skills translate to athletics exceptionally well.
"Even as a freshmen, Paige was consistent in difficult situations, which gave herself the best opportunity to play and be successful," said Lambinus. "Her consistency and self-leadership is so important."
Elliott's road to Lehigh hasn't been typical, living in several different places, including outside of the country. Despite several moves, soccer has been a constant and a mainstay.
After beginning to play soccer at the age of five, Elliott moved to England when she was six.
"In England, they didn't really have girls' leagues," she said. "I was six or seven, playing on a 12-year old team. I couldn't play in the games because I was too small, but I trained with older kids because I loved the sport."
Elliott was actually born in North Carolina, then moved to England as part of her father's expat program with Duracell. From there, she moved to Massachusetts then Tennessee, where she currently resides.
"When I came back to Massachusetts around the age of nine, I started playing soccer competitively, both," said Elliott.
Now, everything has come full circle. Elliott learned how to adjust to her new surroundings and adjust to Lehigh successfully. She will continue to adjust to whatever comes her way.
"I'm planning on going into the industry right away rather than graduate school," said Elliott. "Engineers who go to graduate school will typically get their PhD. Those people are generally more interested in research and teaching, which isn't what I want to do. I like more of the hands-on stuff and I could see myself in more of a process engineering type of role. I'm still keeping my options open."
Perhaps the most powerful impact of Elliott's success has been the positive influence on not only her teammates, but also perspective student-athletes who are interested in playing soccer at Lehigh.
"When you have a student-athlete who is successful in one of our hardest majors, and is also successful on the soccer field, it gives belief to other players that they can do it," said Lambinus. "It recruits as well. A lot of recruits are always hesitant if they can effectively balance academics and athletics. Paige shows that you can."
The numbers are proving Elliott's impact.
"It's not surprising that we have more engineers on our team now than in the past because we've had success at it," said Lambinus. "Our student-athletes look up to Paige."
Elliott's all-around success comes down to one additional trait, which ties directly into the most consistent force behind her success… accountability.
"I believe I have an achievement personality," said Elliott. "The better you do now, the more you're going to learn and the more you're going to be set up for the future and have the types of opportunities that you want."
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