EXTRA CREDIT: Alyssa Gagliardi
Alyssa Gagliardi, a senior defenseman on Shattuck-St. Mary’s Prep Hockey team, is from Raleigh, N.C. She committed to play hockey at Cornell University last August and will be entering her freshman year this fall.
“Hockey was much more limited in the south,” says Gagliardi.
Gagliardi played for the Raleigh Youth Hockey Association (RYHA) growing up in North Carolina. She played as goalie for a boy’s Squirt team. She later played on the girls programs as a defenseman.
“I played for the Raleigh Storm girl’s team for two years,” says Gagliardi. “As my brother and I developed, we moved up a level and began playing for the East Coast Eagles organization.”
Gagliardi’s brother, Ryan, left home to play hockey at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a preparatory school in Faribault, Minn. “Growing up, I wanted to do whatever my brother did,” says Gagliardi.
She continued to follow in her brother’s footsteps as she too decided to attend Shattuck-St. Mary’s. “Just as I picked up hockey because my brother played, I too followed him to Shattuck the very next year,” says Gagliardi. “If I wanted to play college hockey, I would need to get much more exposure by playing girls hockey.”
Gagliardi has been playing hockey at Shattuck-St. Mary’s for four years now. “It has opened amazing doors for me,” says Gagliardi. “Without Shattuck and the coaching I received, I don’t think I would have had such a great opportunity to play Division I hockey.”
Gagliardi chose to attend Cornell because of the academics combined with the school’s drive to have a successful hockey program.
Photo courtesy of Alyssa Gagliardi.
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