Mater Dei’s Lodyga Sets Lofty Goals, and Often Attains Them

The Mater Dei High School girls’ soccer team is on the attack, pushing the ball toward the Bishop Montgomery goal.

At the opposite end of the field, Michelle Lodyga, the Monarch goalie, looks relaxed, hands on hips, shouting encouragement.

“Nice play, Laura!”

“Way to hustle, Amy!”

A moment later, Bishop Montgomery gains possession of the ball and Lodyga’s attitude changes. She shifts into a defensive posture and scans the field. Her voice becomes more authoritative, as she directs her teammates.

“Watch the wing!”

“Tina, No. 19 in the middle!”

The Monarchs turn back the threat and Lodyga relaxes again--until the next attack.

“I’m not real loud when you talk to me, but on the field I get very intense,” she said.

Lodyga, a junior at Mater Dei, sets high standards for herself and usually attains those goals. Yet, there have been times when the expectations have been too great and the frustration has been evident.

During the Christmas holidays, the Monarchs lost back-to-back games to Los Alamitos and Kennedy. Lodyga placed the blame on herself and had trouble putting it into perspective.

“I just broke down mentally and emotionally,” she said. “It was a tough week, and I couldn’t handle it anymore.”

What Lodyga doesn’t mention is that during that week she was performing in Mater Dei’s hand bell choir until 11 almost every night.

“She had four concerts that week, plus practice and two games,” Mater Dei Coach Marty Breen said. “She was overextended. But, we were able to communicate about it, and she was able to see that she was mentally fatigued that week.”

Lodyga, who describes herself as an overachiever, is learning to deal with the low moments of life without lowering her standards.

Twice during the 2-1 victory over Bishop Montgomery there were incidents that, in the past, might have caused Lodyga to overreact.

In the first half, she motioned for teammate Tina Manfre to pass to her, not noticing a Bishop Montgomery player closing in from the side. Lodyga pounced on the ball just in time.

She merely shrugs, “I just didn’t see the girl angling in.”

Later in the first half, Lodyga slipped while kicking the ball away. But again, Bishop Montgomery could not capitalize.

“That must have looked really beautiful--me falling on my butt,” Lodyga said. “At the time, it wasn’t funny, but after the games I’m able to laugh about it.”

Although Lodyga’s intensity at times caused frustration, it was also the thing that made her a quality player. Her solid play in goal is a major reason Mater Dei is 12-4 this season.

“She expects too much of herself, but you’ll never find a kid with more heart,” said Tim Green, an assistant coach for the Mission Viejo Gold Diggers, Lodyga’s club team.

“She has such ambition to win and drive to achieve. She’s improved 100% in the last year, especially with her confidence.”

Lodyga started playing club soccer for the Mission Viejo Emeralds in the seventh grade, although she first signed up on a fluke.

“I was with my mother when she went to sign up my brother for a club team and the Emeralds’ coach was there,” Lodyga said. “He was trying to find a goalie, and my mom told him I had been a goalkeeper for an AYSO team.”

Although Lodyga had played just one year of youth soccer, she was accepted by the Emeralds and began intensive training as a goalie.

“I was really fortunate to get on with the Emeralds,” she said. “I wasn’t really that good of a goalie, it just looked like a fun position to play. They were really patient with me, giving me time to develop.”

Lodyga attended camps that were exclusively for goalies. But, it got to the point of being too much information.

“I would go to one camp and they would teach me one way to play goalie, then at another camp they would contradict that,” she said. “It got very confusing.”

When Lodyga enrolled at Mater Dei as a freshman, she had had enough. She asked not to play goalie and Breen obliged. She played fullback for the Monarchs.

“We like to win, like everyone else, but the No. 1 thing is for the girls to have fun,” Breen said.

“I was burned out at goalie and needed a change,” said Lodyga, who lives in Mission Viejo. “But it wasn’t just that. There were a lot of things going on at that time. I was in a new school and didn’t know anybody. When I started making friends, things got much better.”

Her sophomore year, she asked to return to her former position.

“I soon realized that goalie was my position,” she said. “I hadn’t received training to play in the field, and my passing and dribbling skills weren’t developed.”

Lodyga returned to the goal, but has stopped attending camps. Instead, she works with Green to improve her skills.

“Michelle will work extra days, and if she misses a practice, she’ll make it up later in the week,” Green said. “You have to admire her work ethic.”

And, along with improving her skills, Lodyga is improving her outlook.

“Everyone has intensity,” she said. “Some just have more of it than others.”