After a disheartening first round elimination from the NCAA tournament last year, the NYU women’s soccer team hopes to go further with a new offensive focus led by forward Teressa Fazio.

The SPS sophomore from Cold Harbor Springs achieved many awards during her high school career including All-Country honoree and the Scholar-Athlete award. When choosing which college to attend, Fazio ultimately decided upon NYU because of the balance it offers between sports and academic prowess.

“It gave me the option of being able to get an amazing education and play soccer as well,” Fazio said in an email. “I am studying sports management and I hope to get a Masters in education.”

After college, Fazio plans on hanging up her cleats and moving on from playing soccer to working for a sports organization in the city.

Fazio appeared in all 19 games last year, starting in eight of them in her first season with the Violets. She scored her first goal against SUNY Cortland and put the pressure on teams from then on, taking at least two shots on goal in five different games. She was also named a UAA Athlete of the Week for her performance against Cortland and finished the season fourth in total goals. 

After the first two games of the season, Fazio had a goal and an assist, helping the Violets to a 2-1 victory over Johnson and Wales College. With the loss of senior captain Cami Crawford and an influx of younger players, the Violets have tried revamping their offense this season.

“We have changed things up in terms of attacking,” Fazio said. “We are looking to be more versatile and unpredictable when attacking. We are looking to incorporate the new players in and have them adhere to our playing style as quickly as possible.”

In line with the team goals, Fazio has been working on becoming more of a threat to score when she gets the goal.

“Personally, I would like to work on my attacking and becoming more dangerous in the final third, it sort of goes along with the team goal too,” Fazio said.

In her free time, Fazio enjoys baking and cooking with friends, spending time with her family and rocking out to Kanye West.

You can next see Fazio in action on Thursday Sept. 17th when the Violets take on Desales University at home in the Bronx and then on the 19th for the Violet Nation Give Away game against Bard College.

A version of this article appeared in the Sept. 14 print edition. Email Kyle Luther at [email protected].