Lancaster, Pa. - The Atlantic East Conference announced the league's Woman of the Year on Thursday, naming Marymount’s University’s Laney Placido the recipient of the award.
The Woman of the Year award is presented to one female student-athlete who combined superior academic and athletic achievement during their career thus far. The successful candidate(s) must have competed in an Atlantic East-sponsored championship sport from a full-member institution. For full award criteria,
see here.
Placido capped of an incredible career for Marymount women’s soccer with the 2022 Atlantic East Player of the Year honors. Her senior season production also lander her with All Conference First Team honors. She plated in 55 total games for the Saints with over 4000 minutes on the field. She was a staple for the Marymount soccer team and tallied 15 goals and nine assists in her career. Placido had three game winning goals along with one penalty kick scored in her career. In 2022, Placido was also named to the VaSID All State Second Team.
Laney Placido made her mark in the community through her service and leadership with at Marymount. In 2021 she began work as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). For 24-36 hours a week she has volunteered her time to continue to give back starting during the pandemic. For the summer of 2022 Placido interned with the Arlington County Sheriff’s office helping them to create and plan mental health resource programs for the department. She has also coached at the Richmond Goalkeeping Academy giving back to the future generations of the sport. In 2020 until today she has worked as the junior varsity men’s soccer coach for Yorktown High School.
Academically Laney has continued to balance all of her service and work positions while maintaining a 3.665 GPA in Criminal Justice and Psychology. The senior was four time Atlantic East All-Academic Team member as well as aa CSC Academic All District recipient in 2022.
Laney’s Story:
Most athletes have superstitions. Mine is that I always have to put on my right sock before my left sock when getting dressed for a game. Weird and oddly specific, I know, but that is what makes superstitions personal. However, something that was more of a universal experience and struggle was the Covid-19 pandemic. The world completely stopped and athletics were obviously suspended. My game-day superstition would have to wait, or so I thought.
In December of 2020 (my sophomore year), my Dad was rushed to the hospital with Covid. He fought hard but he was put on a ventilator in late January. My brother and I spent most of the rest of our winter breaks just driving to the hospital and sitting in the car because we weren’t allowed in the hospital. Once I went back to school for spring semester, out of frustration, I signed up for an EMT class. I realized if I could not help my Dad, I wanted to help someone.
EMT class was like taking another two college courses on top of my course load at Marymount, coaching a high school soccer team, and playing the little spring season we were allowed that semester. The best way to describe it would be saying EMT class was a crash course in life and death and everything in between, but even that sounds too simple. While my Dads health fluctuated, I found EMT school to be challenging but loved every second of it. Twice (sometimes three), I was surrounded by a group of people who wanted to better themselves for the sake of another and work towards a common goal of bettering our communities. For the first time in my life, it was not with other athletes.
April of 2021 my Dad was discharged to the hospital and the first week of May I had officially graduated EMT school. I took my Dad to dinner and showed him my certifications and watching his emotions range from pride to pure joy, I knew this was what I was meant to be doing. He told me this is what leaders do, turn hardship into a way to help others.
It also doesn’t take long to learn that first responders are also a superstitious bunch. Never say the Q word (quiet) and weird things do happen on nights with a full moon, just to name a few. We don’t think of them as good luck but more as weird phenomena that have been noticed over time. Even after my soccer career has come to an end, I continue to look forward to serving my community even more. Oh, and I’ll still put on my right sock before my left, before every shift. For good luck, right?