Making the Most of Her Opportunities
By Kevin Ivany
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Playing through a scorching southern Texas heat wave this past weekend, junior forward Tia Dupont continued to throw on the afterburners late into the second half of Sunday afternoon’s 4-1 triumph over Fairleigh Dickinson, relentlessly chasing after through balls and opposing attackers until the final whistle blew.
But for the Sicklerville, N.J., native, her stamina has always been considered elite, so it was the execution she displaced over the weekend that stood out the most to head coach Sarah Barnes.
“Tia’s fitness level has always been excellent,” Barnes said. “And once again, she certainly came in prepared from that standpoint this year. So, I think if you look at the last two seasons, where she has really improved the most is with her technical execution, particularly when she is under pressure.”
It was that exact execution that helped the junior lock up UTRGV All-Tournament MVP honors, as she tallied a co-team-high two goals and five points, to go along with notching her third-career assist, as the University of Miami soccer team opened the 2019 season with a perfect 2-0 mark.
“I expected us to come out really hard and with a lot of intensity just because of everything I saw in the preseason and based on how the team was working together,” Dupont said. “I even felt that off the field, this year, we were a lot stronger as a unit than any of the other two years I have been here. So, I expected us to come out and get the results that we got.
“But personally, I honestly was just playing as hard as I could, and playing for the four seniors [Dejah Cason, Bayleigh Chaviers, Kristina Fisher and Lauren Markwith] that are out on the field and the two [Lexi Castellano-Mugica and Hannah Marwede} off the field. Because for the two years I have been here, they have been the most dedicated and hardworking people I have seen on the team,” Dupont continued. “So, I am not only playing for myself, but for them and the team as an entirety.”
Away from Cobb Stadium, the film room and the classroom this summer, it was the little things Dupont was doing to prepare for her junior season that proved to be paramount this preseason and through the team’s opening two matches.
“This summer, I was back in New Jersey and I actually didn’t play with a team. I just did individual stuff,” Dupont said. “So, I always run and get my fitness in, but I also did a lot of one-on-one technical stuff. Easy things, like kicking the ball against the wall and then taking a touch to the side and working on getting it away from pressure. And then just working on the other little things that I needed to increase my skills and my game.
“Every year I just try to come in and work even harder than the year before. This year, I tried to even put myself in more of an upperclassman and leadership position. So, every day I try to come out and be really positive and make the most out of every single drill we do. [Whether it is] technical, long balls, crossing and finishing, I just try to do my best in everything,” Dupont continued. “Because even though I have these two years left, it still has gone by so fast. And when I look back to my freshman year, I wish I could have put in that extra effort and had gotten my game to where it is now, back then.”
With only one start in the 16 matches she earned minutes in as a freshman; Dupont would look to make the most out of her opportunities when given the chance. And with that, included the occasional switching of positions and the need to make use of her once non-dominant foot.
“Honestly, one day coach was talking to me about how she always saw me playing on the left, because my freshman year I was just thrown into whatever position needed a break. And most of the time that meant I was playing on the left side of the field,” Dupont said. “And when she arrived [last season] she said, ‘I see you are a lefty.’ And I was like, ‘Well, not really, I just get thrown over there.’ And she was like, ‘Well then, we are going to make you a lefty because you are going to stay out there.’ And [from there] it was basically that I had to work on not getting frustrated, especially with the beginning of last year. That is because when we would work on finishing and crossing, I wouldn’t have the same power and technical ability with my left foot in comparison to my right, obviously.
“So, I felt like I had to be really disciplined. We always say that we need to use our left foot, so even in practice, during technical things, I would always make sure that I was using it. And when the ball was on my left foot, it was important that I used my left foot and did not bring it over to my right,” Dupont continued. “With crossing, it was also a lot of extra work. I really had to work on going at the defender, [before] going around and playing with my left. But now, honestly, it is probably even more powerful than my right and I feel almost 100 percent as comfortable with my left as I do with my right.”
And that is something that has not gone unnoticed by Barnes and her staff.
“She is a right-footed player who, at times, is even more comfortable using her left foot,” Barnes said. “And that is because of her commitment to using it more and more in practice and trying to fine-tune it, literally in everything we do. For example, in training sessions she will literally ask teammates to play it to her left foot so she can get more repetition with it. Whereas a lot of other players like to go out of their way to avoid using their less dominant foot. We communicated that was an area that she needed to improve on, especially since she plays on the left side, and she understood that was important and she has really improved that aspect of her game. And it has made her much more versatile and therefore more effective on the field.”
It is these acts of selflessness, discipline and competitive nature that corresponds to what the team implemented this summer as a trio of themes each individual athlete should look to emulate week-in and week-out both on and off the pitch. It has also been a key factor in Dupont’s growth as a leader and competitor on the field.
And of those three values, it is selflessness that most touches home to the junior forward.
“I think selfless probably sticks out the most to me because to be a good teammate, selfless isn’t just about putting the team first. There are also so many little selfless things you can do, like getting a ball after practice that is really far away and nobody else would think to get,” Dupont said. “And even though it is a component of being competitive and disciplined, like going into every tackle as hard as you can and literally putting your body out there and risking the pain or whatever it is. That is selflessness. Or doing as much as you can for your team, to get the ball. It is exposing yourself as much as possible when on the field. Running until you literally feel like you are going to collapse, playing in the 100-degree heat. No matter what, you must make that run, you must be selfless, you have to help your team.”
Outside of getting comfortable with using her non-dominant foot and addressing acts of leadership on and off the field, Barnes explained other aspects of Dupont’s game that has continued to improve.
“She has also done a really good job in taking the information we give them, whether it is the team video or individual training on the field, and applied it,” Barnes said. “So, she has really become a much more tactically aware player who is able to take advantage of what defenses are taking and giving away.
“Her ability to really take the lessons and mistakes, and then fix them, particularly in game settings and high-pressure moments, I think is one of the best parts of her improvement over the past couple years,” Barnes continued. “I think also, if you look at her goal against UTRGV, I would have said heading was not necessarily one of her strong suits. She could do it, but it wasn’t something we would say was her stronger aspects. But as we continued to work on that as a team, she continued to get better. And when the opportunity arises in the game, you see it sort of pay off. So, I think it is those sorts of things that really stand out about Tia and is why she is having such a strong impact on the team this season.”
Heading into Thursday’s home-opener against Florida Atlantic at 7 p.m., for Dupont and her teammates it has always been about taking it one game at a time.
“As a team, we always say that we want to make ACCs and NCAAs, but honestly, I would like to keep seeing us building our chemistry. I definitely want to see us make it to the ACCs, not only for the team, but especially for our seniors, because as I said before, they deserve it so much,” Dupont said. “But, I think we need to work on building our strong foundation and making sure we stay aligned with what our goals are. So, we cannot be focused on future results, instead we have to stay focused on every single game ahead of us and treat them all as if they are a conference game. We have to be focusing on the now.
“Individually, I just want keep moving forward with my ability and keep building. I would love for this to be one of my best years and to then build off of that for my senior year,” Dupont continued. “Obviously, I would like to continue to score more goals and get more assists, but on top of that, I want to continue to be a leader, a good teammate and help the team achieve all of our goals.”
