It's three hours before the women's lacrosse team takes the field against rival North Carolina. Freshmen defensive stopper Meghan Walters can be found in the locker room watching game film.
Three and a half hours later, North Carolina attacker Kelly Thompson attempts her favorite offensive move from behind the cage, but Walters is there to cut her off and foil the play.
"I went behind the goal to guard her, and she tried to use the crease to pick me off," Walters said. "It's kind of funny, because I had just gotten done watching film where she tried to use the exact same move in another game and was successful.
"Since I knew exactly what she was going to do, I was able to shut her down before she even got started."
At the end of every G. I. Joe episode there was a saying that "knowing is half the battle." Walters shows just how true this advice is, as her preparation for each game is of utmost importance.
"Knowing your opponent makes all the difference in the world," Walters said. "Evaluating their game is key. I see their strengths and try to prevent them from happening. I see their weaknesses and try to attack them and take advantage."
While work ethic and increased dedication might be a tough transition for many freshman athletes, that is not the case with Walters. Having come from a family of swimmers, she understands what hard work is all about.
In particular, her brother, who is training for the Olympics, gave her an excellent model to follow.
"Right now, he trains twice a day every day," Walters said. "I am so proud of him and impressed with how much time and effort he puts into swimming. He has really shown me what it takes to get to the top."
Walters chose lacrosse over swimming her junior year of high school, and her head coach, Kerstin Kimel, is quite happy she made the choice she did.
"Meghan has been key for
"Her ability to come up with really big plays for us as a freshmen has helped her mesh with her defensive teammates."
Walters stepped right into the spotlight in her first ACC contest, receiving the start against top-ranked Maryland. As if that was not tough enough, her defensive assignment was to shut down last season's player of the year, Jen Adams.
Even though the Terps won the game, the freshman made quite an impression, holding Adams to one goal below her average and limiting her to minimal impact on the game.
"When I found out I would be guarding Jen Adams, my heart just dropped, but at the same time it was one of the most exciting things," Walters said. "This was the first time I really realized that all the coaches and all the players had confidence in me. And this really boosted my confidence.
"When I went onto the field, it wasn't Jen Adams, NCAA player of the year; it was Jen Adams, a Maryland player I need to guard the best way I know how."
At this point, the list of all-stars Walters was asked to shut down was just beginning. Night in and night out she has been given the job of hounding the opponent's best offensive threat, from UNC's Kelly Thompson to Virginia's Jamie Hodge to Yale's Claire Gillespie.
While Walters' height is an added advantage on the defensive end, her aggressiveness is at a higher level than one might expect of a rookie. She does not play passive defense against her opponent but instead forces her into bad decisions.
In addition to being second on the team in caused turnovers, Walters ranks first in fouls, a stat she claims has a good and bad side.
"Sometimes I foul when there is no need to foul and just give a girl a free position shot for no reason," she said. "Those times it's really stupid of me, but sometimes fouls need to happen, maybe to stop momentum or stop a break away."
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Walters credits much of her success, however, to her teammates. With offensive threats such as Tricia Martin, Kate Kaiser and Kate Soulier, often times, her assignments in practice are much scarier than the ones in an actual game.
"Look at the players on our team, they are all awesome attackers," Walters said. "When I match up against them in practice, it just makes me so much better and more prepared when I head into games.
"On the field, I am not surprised by how fast a player is or how solid her stick skills are because I have been practicing against that all week."
Kimel also noted the importance of her offensive players simulating opponents in practice to help Walters become quite familiar with who she would be guarding.
"In practice, we try to pick out a player who can best role-play the opponent," she said. "For Yale, we had Meghan chase Claire Finn behind the cage, which is not an easy thing to do. And I think that experience really helped her in the game Sunday."
Walters has developed into one of the ACC's top defensive players this season and will likely not be intimidated by anyone this weekend at the ACC tournament in College Park, Md. And she knows she could have never reached this point without the team's positive atmosphere all season.
"The team has been really supportive," Walters said. "There is always someone to talk to; the coaches' doors are always open. To go where Kerstin wants us to go, you have to work hard."
This weekend, the Blue Devils will take the first step toward where Kimel wants her team to go. In the semifinal round tomorrow, Duke will take on the Tar Heels at 1 p.m.