APRIL 2019 | SportsUnion
COLLEGE
Soccer
By Matt Ondesko
Managing Editor
As the sun rises through
the trees on this ear-
ly morning, it’s another
day closer to living out
a dream. A dream you
have had since you were
a little girl. The dream of
someday making it big,
playing the sport that you
love so much.
On this day, the sun is
coming up slowly and
there you are working on
your craft. You can see
your breathe as winter
has turned the spring.
The cool spring morn-
ings will soon turn into a
pleasant day.
The cool air doesn’t
bother you. Shoot, you
will play on type of day
- surface. You just wan
to get there and work on
your craft. A craft that
is going to lead to big
things down the road. It’s
the hard work that you
are putting in during the
cool mornings before the
sun had completely rises.
It’s the hard work you
have put in as the sun
begins to set behind the
trees. There isn’t enough
time in the day to get bet-
ter at the sport you love.
There isn’t enough time
in the day to show people
how good you really are.
But, they know. The
Western New York com-
munity has heard about
you. The soccer commu-
nity knows exactly how
good you are. Whether is
was during your time at
Sacred Heart Academy or
Williamsville South High
School, the community
knew how good you were.
They were taking no-
tice.
As far as she could re-
member Tatyjana Scali-
si wanted to be a soccer
player. Sure she was a
three-sport while attend-
ing Williamsville South
High School, but it was
21
soccer that was her first
love.
Scalisi would be out
there on the cold morn-
ings practicing her skills
to become better. Over the
years she became better
to a point where colleges
and universities started
recruiting her during her
freshman year.
It was one school, how-
ever, that stuck out
during the process. It
was a school that she has
known very well over the
years. It was a school that
she could see from her
own backyard. When ev-
erything added up it was
the University at Buffalo
that checked all the box-
es for Scalisi.
It was close to home. It
has a great academic rep-
utation and the athletic
programs are on the rise.
“The process started
very early for me as I had
many schools starting
to reach out to me in my
freshman year.
I took
some time to evaluate all
my offers and decided to
play Division I soccer and
stay local. It was after I
attended the July I.D clin-
ic at UB that I made my
final decision to verbal-
ly commit in 2017. Both
Shawn and Casey made
it a smooth process and
gave me the time I need-
ed to make my final deci-
sion,” explained Scalisi.
“I made the decision to
stay close to home be-
cause my mom has been
dealing with cancer over
the past 2 years. UB has
also been building its
“The game has always
come naturally to me. I
evaluate situations and
make quick decisions
since it is never always
the same. This is why
many players consider
me intimidating and
unpredictable when I
am on the field, there
is no telling what
will be coming next,”
stated Scalisi.
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