Field Hockey, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Saquon Barkley
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing sports: Getting a winning goal for my club lacrosse team at the very end of the last quarter.
Music on playlist: I listen to Drake before my games and house music during warmups with my teammates.
Future plans: I plan to study marketing at a 4-year college.
Words to live by: I believe that everything happens for a reason in the way it is supposed to.
One goal before turning 30: I hope to start my own business by the time I turn 30.
One thing people don’t know about me: People may not know that I am the youngest of three sisters, one of them being my identical twin. I am so close with all of my sisters, but I am particularly close with my twin sister, Mia, as we have grown up doing activities and sports together.”
By Mary Jane Souder
Roya Rosala was born to lead.
Chosen captain by her field hockey teammates, the Lower Moreland senior turned out to be a perfect fit. A fact that was confirmed to coach Deb Lawlor early this fall.
“We were in the game, but we were not playing the game that we had planned, and Roya realized this on the field and took it upon herself to call a timeout,” said Lawlor, who took over the helm of the hockey team this fall but has coached Rosala for three years in lacrosse. “They know they can call a timeout if they really feel as though we are out of kilter.
“I’ve had athletes do that before, and when they come over to the huddle, they think that the coach is now going to put the pieces together. Roya didn’t even look at me, and this is the power of Roya – she took her words, her feelings and emotions and compacted them into 30 seconds so eloquently, powerful, purposeful, and the team put it into play instantaneously.”
It was a 30-second timeout that turned the tide.
“The greatest thing is people listened,” Lawlor said. “When teams have a timeout and are in a huddle, the players don’t always have eye contact with the coach, but they were attentive, and they responded to her.”
Several things, according to the LM coach, stand out in that story.
“One, she had the wherewithal to call the timeout – she knew that we needed it,” Lawlor said. “Two, she took control of it and didn’t push blame for someone else to then pick the pieces up. Three, she had the team totally captivated and then they responded.”
Back to the beginning
With two older sisters who have been involved in sports, Rosala has been competing in sports for as long as she can remember, sharing a love for sports with her identical twin sister Mia.
“At one point, I was playing like six sports year-round,” she said. “Every sport I could get my hands on – flag football, volleyball, tennis, swimming in the summer, so I’ve always been very active. And then as it got more serious, my favorite ones, hockey and lacrosse, kind of stuck.”
Lacrosse became a year-round sport for Rosala, who is a four-year varsity player. She played club for Dynasty Elite during the offseason but insists she actually can’t choose between the two sports.
“I had to grow a love for lacrosse, but I always loved field hockey from the minute I started out,” Rosala said. “I think it’s the way the teams are set up and the way you work with all your players. Flag football and when I played volleyball and tennis – they’re all very different.
“You still have to work with other people, but field hockey and lacrosse are so specialized and different. You can have many different places on the field and the way you work with players around you is different at every single part of the field, and I love that because I play multiple positions. It’s just more fun for me. I really enjoy working with other people, being a leader and helping other people succeed.”
That philosophy was apparent in the way the senior captain worked with a younger teammate.
“We have a firm belief here at Lower Moreland that you play like you look,” Lawlor said. “We’re always on the move, and she instills that. We call ourselves sisters, and we’re family, and we have this way that we get our freshmen and sophomores feeling comfortable. She’s a senior, so she’s a mom, and she treats those people underneath her with care and compassion and love.
“There was a young lady, Annika Swanson, who was a (defensive) back, and I had to move her up to DCM (defensive center mid) because Maddie Broderick was out. She had never played DCM - she was brand new and didn’t understand the concept.
“Roya, who’s (attacking center mid), pulled her over and said, ‘Listen, Annika, we have 10 seconds. You’re not doing things correctly, but put these three things in play, and let’s go.’ Annika was like, ‘You got it,’ and she did it. Annika talks about that story all the time. She said, ‘Roya could have yelled at me or could have just disregarded me, but Roya was doing it for the better of the team.”
As a captain, Rosala says she holds people accountable when needed, gives constructive criticism and also congratulates and celebrates teammate’s wins.
“I also think being a leader is if you feel like you are not having your best game yourself or you aren’t feeling good about yourself - you can do whatever you can to make the players around you feel better about themselves,” the senior captain said. “If I’m having a bad game, for example, I will be like, ‘You know what – I’m going to do everything I can to get someone else an assist or get someone else a goal,’ lift other people up.
“It’s not a one-player game. I can’t harp on myself. I’m always thinking about - what can I do to benefit my team, and if we’re all out of whack, I’ll call a timeout and say we need to get together. We need to figure out what we’re doing wrong and have group discussions. I think that’s also very important because it’s not an end-all, be-all with my word as captain. I love hearing what other people have to say.”
Lawlor has one more season with Rosala this spring
“She’s the driving force of both teams, and that’s a beautiful driving force,” the LM coach said. “That’s not – I want the ball, so get out of my way.’ That is leading by example in making other people feel like they want that too, which is super cool.”
Looking ahead
Rosala values her time playing high school sports and says it has helped her learn to work with people while also learning more about herself.
“It factors into every other aspect of my life, pushing myself when I’m tired or I don’t think that I can do something,” she said. “It requires a lot of mental strength. I’ve brought that into every single aspect of my life like friendships, schoolwork, especially with my overall health, it’s so important.
“I love moving my body, so whenever I’m stressed or sad, I go out and play lacrosse or field hockey, or I’ll go for a run. It’s given me much more mental clarity as well.”
An important part of her high school athletic experience has been sharing it with her twin sister, Mia.
“Unfortunately, in last spring’s lacrosse season, she tore her ACL halfway through the season, so she wasn’t able to finish our lacrosse season or play hockey this fall, but she’ll be back for the spring season,” Rosala said. “I’ve loved growing up playing sports with her.
“We work so well together, finding our different niches inside our sports and things we’re good at because people are always like – who’s better at this sport? Who’s better at that? But we both have our own strengths, so I enjoyed that.”
An outstanding student, Rosala is a member of the National Honor Society. She is a MiniTHON captain and is part of the school’s Interact Club.
Next year, she plans to major in marketing and is hoping to compete in club in both sports at the collegiate level.
Her impact at Lower Moreland will not soon be forgotten by her coach, who reiterated at Rosala’s field hockey exit interview the significance of the timeout her senior captain called – and not only because of the impact it had on the game.
“I said that has a complete effect on who you will be at home as a parent, who you will be in a project in a big corporation,” the LM coach said. “I told her, ‘You’ve just done what, as a coach, I want you to become. Yes, I want you to be winners on the field, but I want strong women that are empowered to do exactly what you do in the workforce, in your home, your family and your relationships.’ It was a beautiful, beautiful thing.”
