carroll is majoring in Business Administration
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Being a scholar-athlete at Florida Tech takes an incredible amount of hard work and dedication to excel both in the classroom and on the field. We caught up with Panther women’s soccer player Lydia Carroll, a junior who is majoring in Business Administration, for this edition of Scholar-Athlete Spotlight.
Having grown up on the other side of the Melbourne Causeway in Indialantic, Florida, Lydia transferred to Florida Tech from Eastern Florida State before the 2022 season and has since started all 40 games in defense.
This past season saw Carroll be a part of one of the best back lines in the nation, earning Third Team All-Sunshine State Conference honors in the process.
She also posted her first goal in the Crimson and Gray with perfect timing as her long-range strike tied Tech’s NCAA Tournament second-round matchup at Lee.
Carroll has been named to the Sunshine State Conference Commissioner’s and Florida Tech Athletic Director’s Honor Roll with a perfect 4.0 GPA after each of her first two seasons.
Lydia joined us to talk about the work she’s put in in the classroom and what she’ll remember about her team’s remarkable 2023 season.
■ Tell us a little bit about your major, what made you choose it and what do you want to do with it?
Initially, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do as a major. I just knew I wanted to continue playing soccer and so choosing business administration really helped keep my options open. It’s such a versatile major, you have so many different options you can do with the major, so that’s why I chose it.
■ Having grown up in Brevard County, what was it about Florida Tech that made you want to stay?
The location, the ability to stay close to my family, to the beach. I love Melbourne, I love Florida and just being able to see my family on a regular basis and be able to go back home whenever I want to, whenever I can is really great.
■ What’s something you’ve learned at Florida Tech about your major that you didn’t know before?
I think the classroom has really taught me to network with a lot of people, I think that’s one thing that will help me a lot in my major, and maybe with how things are nowadays in the world with globalization, and the spread of technology, it’s really teaching me a lot on how to connect with people from different cultures and different perspectives.
■ How has being a collegiate athlete prepared you for what you’re doing now and what lessons have you taken from the pitch that apply to your studies?
I think time management is a big one, definitely and perseverance. I think when you’re down one or you’re really struggling, it’s a hot, hot day, you’re tired, you’ve just got to push through it. I think that really helps in the workforce, if you’re just having a bad day or having a tough project to push through.
■ Given your unique perspective, what advice would you give to a local athlete that might be considering Florida Tech and what advice would you give to an athlete coming to Florida Tech that has an interest in Business Administration?
I would say to try and enjoy the experience as much as possible. Don’t procrastinate, do your work, but also just find the fun things in life while you’re here, make friends. Try to be as social as possible and just get the Florida experience. Go to the beach, get some sun and just have fun because this isn’t forever and it goes by really fast.
■ You got to be a part of a phenomenal run this year in the NCAA Tournament, going all the way to the Final Four. How do you stay on top of everything because you’re getting late into the semester and exams weren’t that far away. What did you do during all those road trips to make sure that you were staying on top of everything while you were getting ready to do this incredible thing?
I would definitely just have some set time aside to focus 100% on schoolwork and then the other time I would dedicate to soccer and I think what really helped is the whole team was so dedicated and everyone just wanted to do so well that we gave 100% to everything and balancing school with that on our road trips and everything we would use all that free time to put towards our schoolwork so that we can focus on the sport side.
■ What people don’t realize as scholar-athletes is you guys had this incredible run to the Final Four, which stretches into December and you guys were on the road for quite a while there towards the end of the NCAA tournament towards exam season. There’s a lot of important things that need to get done. How did you keep everything balanced while we’re making this run to the Final Four?
I know a lot of girls, some of them even have full-time jobs, and so a lot of them would be on the bus working and when we’re in the hotels, we do have our practices, our team time, but then we also have some hours of alone time, so that would help.
That’s when girls would decide to do homework or if they know that they need to rest for the game, they’d get some rest and just choose what time works for them to dedicate to school.
■ What is your favorite memory of the 2023 season?
To be honest, probably my goal [against Lee]. It was my first goal ever with FIT, I don’t really score often, so that was definitely a memorable moment. We were down one-zero and it was just great to see everyone’s reaction.
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