Stanford lacrosse’s impressive season could not have been achieved without the outstanding play of fifth-year senior Rachel Ozer. Ozer ended her Stanford career with 126 goals and 65 assists, a total of 191 career points that puts her at third on the program’s all-time points list. The Stanford Daily’s Alexa Philippou sat down with Ozer to discuss her time at Stanford and her lacrosse career.

The Stanford Daily (TSD): How and when did you start playing lacrosse?

Rachel Ozer (RO): I started playing in sixth grade. I moved from San Francisco to the East Bay, specifically Moraga. There wasn’t a team in San Francisco but there was a lacrosse team that was just starting up in Moraga. I tried it, really got into it right off the bat. I had been a big baseball player before, that was my favorite sport, but it really was just a step before everything else I had played.

TSD: What are some of your earliest memories playing lacrosse?

RO: It’s funny, you know, remembering playing with kids who went on to play against me in college. I always like looking back on the early days when we played together then.

TSD: Anyone in particular from different teams stand out?

RO: Yeah, they’re a number of people from my area who went to play at Cal, some people at Oregon, a couple of people on the East Coast as well. I felt like my graduating class for lacrosse made a little bit of a breakthrough in terms of making a name for West Coast teams or with West Coast lacrosse. We sent a lot of kids to college [for lacrosse] which was kind of unusual for California, but I think that trend is definitely changing. We’re getting a lot more recruits from California these days.

TSD: Do you think that besides getting more players from California and out west to go to college for lacrosse, has the West Coast game itself for lacrosse been growing since you started playing?

RO: I definitely think so. There were hardly any club teams when I started playing and there’s definitely a lot more youth teams going along now and a lot more competitive club teams as well. There’s definitely been a big shift and it’s always growing.

TSD: Do you think there could be a shift maybe not completely towards the West, but do you think it could maybe balance out eventually?

RO: I think Stanford is really trying to make a name for the West. We’re still looking to break out into the playoffs and go farther than we have in the past. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that this year even though I thought we had very much the potential to do so. You know, you only get once chance in the NCAAs. If you look back to the year before I started playing at Stanford, the roster was all Baltimore, East Coast, and if you look out our roster now, we have people from all over the country. Our freshmen came from 10 different states. We have a lot of people from the West Coast. Stanford used to be a West Coast team but we didn’t have West Coast players. And now it’s a West Coast team and it does have West Coast players as well as East Coast players.

TSD: What was the reason you chose to come to Stanford? What factored into your decision?

RO: I originally didn’t want to go to Stanford. I grew up in the area and was always thinking I’d go East for lacrosse. I came on a recruiting visit here and I just really liked how down to earth everyone was, I really liked the team and it seemed to be something I wanted to be a part of. It wasn’t a tough decision in the end.

TSD: What were some of your best memories at Stanford on and off the field?

RO: On the field, I would say each year you have a couple of favorite games. Junior year when we beat Notre Dame in the first year of the NCAAs, that was really exciting because it was the first time we had won a NCAA game for Stanford. This year it was really fun to sweep and win all of our conference games and win the MPSF tournament outright, so that was a nice way to go out. There have also been big comebacks. Like last year, I think Georgetown might have been my favorite game. We were down by six well into the second half and kind of made this crazy run to win it in overtime.

TSD: Was it your sophomore year that you got hurt?

RO: Yeah sophomore year I was hurt. During the Vanderbilt game it was the fifth game of the season and I broke my collarbone on the field. It was tough at the time but it really worked out well in the end for me.

TSD: So you missed the rest of the season, right? But you came back and started every game the following season, it seems like you didn’t really skip a beat and you kind of just went back into the swing of things. How was that transition back?

RO: Freshman year I got a taste of it and I feel like sophomore year I was ready to go but then you don’t know, injuries are going to hit. Just being out for so long you get a little antsy and it definitely gives you a lot of drive and motivation to come out stronger than ever before. So I guess that’s what I tried to do.

TSD: So your major is so impressive. What is it exactly?

RO: As an undergrad I did atmosphere energy engineering, which is a small subset of the civil and environmental department. So it basically just focuses on renewable energy and then now that I am co-terming as a fifth year I shifted towards mechanical engineering. Atmosphere and energy, that’s the field I want to work in, but I’d like to be working as an engineer so that’s why mechanical engineering is a good complement to that.

TSD: How is it to balance that intense of a major and studies with being a varsity athlete?

RO: I think you know when you’re getting into it that you’re going to be busy with lacrosse. There are definitely tough times, but being a varsity athlete made me a better student for sure because when you have time you use that time. Actually when I was injured was the time when I would stay up the latest or postpone things most because I didn’t feel like “okay, make sure you get all your rest for the game tomorrow or for practice” because I knew I would just be standing there. It felt like I had more time on my hands because of not having that need to rest up. You get used to the time management stuff. It definitely takes a little bit of time to adjust but once you get the swing of things it definitely leaves you a better student coming out of it all.

TSD: So career-wise what exactly are you looking to do?

RO: I want to get involved with some renewables technology, whether it’s solar, wind or electric vehicles, and just pushing that technology so it’s more and more competitive with oil and gas. I’m going to be here this summer taking classes and then after that I’m hoping to get involved with an interesting company and go from there.

TSD: Is this something you knew you wanted to do from the beginning or did it take you some time to figure out what to do?

RO: I felt like I thought I wanted to do it from the beginning and then I was taking some classes and busy with lacrosse and I was like, “Am I really going to be able to do this?” I figured it out and [realized] “this is what I want to do and it is doable.” You question your gut and then you go back and trust it.

TSD: Switching back to some lacrosse things, how have you seen Stanford’s lacrosse program progress since you’ve been here?

RO: I think it’s become a program that people just take a lot of pride in. Our team is becoming more and more committed towards our goal of Final Four and national championship. Each year, it might not necessarily show with every game necessarily, but we’re taking a step towards that, and it’s only a matter of time before we have a breakout. Maybe it’s next year, it could’ve been this year. It’s definitely interesting to see how different a team is when you’re a freshman versus when you’re a senior, but it’s really fun to be a part of.

TSD: What are your thoughts on the season? Obviously you guys did so well, winning the MPSFs stands out. You as an individual did incredibly, but you guys had a disappointing end [losing to Florida in the first round of the NCAA].

RO: The tough thing is every team except for the national champion is going to end with a loss. So you kind of have to take that with a grain of salt. Obviously we wanted to go farther than we did and it’s always frustrating to feel that you lost a game because you weren’t playing your best. It’s more satisfying if you’re like “we did everything we could but we can hold our heads high.” People are going to have a little bit of a sour taste in their mouths about that loss for a little bit of time, but overall you can’t take back everything we’ve done this season. Everyone’s excited that we brought the MPSFs back here so we’re going to be hosting next year, putting us in the position to do great things next year. I think this whole senior class feels that they left a good legacy behind to the rest of the team. We’re proud of it and excited to see what the team can do next now that it’s in their hands.

TSD: How do you feel about your individual career here? How are you going to look back on your time here?

RO: I had a lot of fun playing. I’m definitely proud of what we’ve done. And I’m also glad I worked to make a name for schools out West and really grow the game, being one of the first Bay Area recruits. That’s been cool to see. It still probably hasn’t quite sunk in that it’s done, since it’s been a few days, it just feels like I’m on an off day or something.

TSD: Do you see yourself getting involved with anything with lacrosse down the road?

RO: I feel like I’ll probably end up coaching a high school team, maybe my kids’. I definitely wouldn’t be a head coach at a school or something. I doubt I’d be able to leave the world of lacrosse fully.

TSD: And what are some of the things you’re going to miss the most about playing lacrosse itself and also lacrosse at Stanford?

RO: The team is such a big thing, and seeing your 30 teammates every day and having fun and working hard with them towards something is really satisfying. There was the conditioning and the early mornings, those things I’m not going to miss waking up [for] but there’s still a lot of satisfaction and pride. It’s really rewarding in an odd way, so I’ll definitely miss that and I’ll miss being close with my teammates. My class has already graduated, and a couple of them are scattered around and I think it’s easy to take for granted just being close to your teammates or your Stanford friends being within a five-minute bike. I’m going to try to make the most of these last couple months while everyone is around.

TSD: What kind of lessons do you think you got playing lacrosse and playing lacrosse at Stanford? What will you take from this experience?

RO: I could talk about working hard and being committed towards something, and that can do a lot but it’s nothing unless you have everyone surrounding you on board and equally excited about that goal and that vision you have, and I think that’s something that we have and that Stanford lacrosse is all about and I also think that’s something in the real world, whether it’s dreams for a company or an idea that you have that’s really universal.

Contact Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.