Princeton University Athletics
Eyes Of The Tiger
February 04, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 4, 2000
Princeton, N.J. -
Have you ever looked a Tiger in the eye? Have you ever experinced intensity that sends chills down your spine? If you've watched Kate Thirolf play basketball, you know the feeling. Her drive to succeed is second to none, and it shows on the court. When she is standing there, looking at her defender, her eyes seem to say, "No matter what you do, I am about to make something happen."
It is that "no lose" attitude that has led Thirolf to such a successful career at Princeton.
"When it is game time, I am intense. I guess that is my personality. I just take it very seriously, and I don't like to lose," Thirolf says. "It is not even winning that I enjoy, it is really that I just hate to lose. It is that `refuse to lose' attitude that I take pretty seriously on the court."
She came in as part of a eight-woman recruiting class, which has now dwindled to three. Thirolf was in the mix from Day 1, starting 23 of 26 games as a freshman, earning Ivy-League All-Rookie honors. She followed that performance up with first-team and second-team All-Ivy accolades the next two seasons. She has experienced success at different levels during four very different seasons. Now she is a senior, and as unpredictable as life can be, this season has proved to be quite a bumpy road.
"It is not the senior year I was expecting, but I kind of had a feeling my senior year would be a question mark when our team was changing," Thirolf says. "A lot of people decided not to play and we had different injuries, not just me but Shani [Moore], and it seems like everyone had some obstacle to get over. I knew senior year would not be predictable in any way."
One major hurdle in this year's course is the chronic patella tenidinitis in her right knee. It is most obvious this year, but the effects of the condition began last season.
"It was bad junior year. I did not realize what was going on. It was particularly bad toward the end of the year. I thought everybody's knees hurt," Thirolf says. "I would ice my knees and struggle going up and down stairs throughout the week, but I really didn't think too much about it.
"Toward the end of the season, I realized my play was being hindered by it. I could not do the things I could normally do, whether it was playing defense or a game of pick-up. By the last game of pick-up, I would really be struggling. That was when I realized I needed to get this checked out. I needed to get this better."
The pain has kept Thirolf out of the starting rotation on two occassions this year and forced her to watch more of the games than she would like from the sideline. The powers of modern medicine are bringing Thirolf back to where she wants to be--on the court helping her team win.
"I got a Cortizone shot a few days before Rider, and it has really helped," she says. "I would not have been able to play 33 minutes against Columbia without it."
To go the distance, Thirolf has to take a lighter approach before game days. She wants to make sure she is ready to go when the ball is tipped.
"I usually take the practice before games off. Throughout the week if it is not feeling well, then I'll talk to [Liz Feeley] about it, and I'll limit myself to shooting and half-court stuff."
Despite all, the three-year captain has put together an impressive campaign. She leads the team in assists and rebounding and is second on the team in scoring and third in steals. She has led the team in scoring in four games and in rebounding on nine occassions.
To top it all off, Thirolf became the 13th Princeton player to reach the 1,000-point plateau for her career. It was only fitting that she hit a grand on a three-pointer and in the same game as fellow classmate and co-captain Maggie Langlas against Farifield in the Ala Moana Paradise Classic in Hawaii.
"I knew Maggie was close, but I had no idea I was that close," she says. "When I scored, I thought they made a mistake when they announced it."
"When I realized we did it in the same game, it was really special. It did not hit me until much later, but I'm definitely going to remember that. I think at the end of the season, the thought of hitting 1,000 points will sink in."
The dynamic duo have a very different style of play, but seem to complement each other perfectly, on and off the court. Not only are the two roommates, carolmates and a member of the same eating club, but Langlas also has a set of keys to Thirolf's car.
"We have logged in a lot of minutes together. There were roles to fill, and we managed to fill them at the same time. I know when she is going to shoot. I know her moves. I know her strengths and what she is looking for. I know what she wants me to do, and I try to do it," Thirolf says with a smile. "We can read each other pretty well on and off the court."
Thirolf and the Tigers climb another rung on a challenging Ivy ladder this weekend as they host Brown and Yale.
"It is really tough to be 0-3 in the league right now. You just can't dwell on it at all. We have to focus on Yale and Brown right now. It is tough, but you can't think `Oh, if only this...', it's not worth it. It's wasted energy. We are going to get the energy on the court and prepare for Yale and Brown."
With 11 games left in her Princeton career, it will take more than a knee pain to deflate Thirolf's spirit. With intensity like hers, Bears and Bulldogs better beware.