It was only a few years ago that Mikayla Correia walked across the stage at Massachusetts Maritime Academy to receive her diploma and saw her women's lacrosse career for the Buccaneers come to an end. For many that may be the last time they step on campus, but it turned into the start of a new adventure for Correia.

Correia first picked up a lacrosse stick when she was in seventh grade after a younger sister wanted to be part of the Dartmouth Youth Lacrosse league. It didn't take her long to fall in love with the sport, but she made a realization that would change the course of her game.

"I honestly wasn’t very good as a field player," Correia said. "I remember my freshman year of high school our goalkeeper walked off and quit in the middle of tryouts after being hit in the leg with a shot. I took all of her equipment and stepped into the goal circle. I think at the time I thought man I’m not doing so great, maybe they won’t cut me if I’m willing to play goalie.”

When she wasn't thinking about lacrosse in high school, her focus was on her future and possibly enlisting in the military. Her dad, an Army veteran, encouraged her to look into ROTC, explore all branches and then apply to Officer Candidate School after college. That is where Massachusetts Maritime crossed her mind.

"Mass. Maritime seemed like the perfect balance of everything I was looking for," Correia said. "I really wanted a structured environment where people were motivated to succeed. You’re going to get leadership experience if you are a student-athlete no matter where you go, but at Mass. Maritime leadership development was 24/7; it is the lifeblood of this place. I wanted to be surrounded by people who were as excited about that as I was." 

While it wasn't a necessity, the chance to keep playing lacrosse was a great bonus for Correia who was eager to learn. As the lone goalie on the squad, she had nowhere to go but up, competing against herself all four seasons. 

With the unique nature of Academy life, Correia also served as the Regimental Commander of the Academy which meant she was in charge of the daily life and operation of the Regiment of Cadets, our student body. With the pressure from her studies and role within the Regiment, lacrosse became an outlet for her.

"Playing lacrosse was the time of my day where I could walk onto the field and forget about all of my responsibilities on the other side of campus for a few hours," Correia said. "It also gave me the opportunity to mentor and learn from my teammates, we all knew with such a small roster we needed to be accountable to one another."

It is often said that your teammates are some of your closest friends when you're a student-athlete. No surprise that one of her favorite memories involves her teammate Stephanie Hunt and a huge milestone. 

"A cool memory I have was watching my teammate and co-captain Steph Hunt score 200 points and break all of our programs offensive records," Correia said. "She and I had the same class schedule so we would go over film and stats together before games. I felt like her accomplishment was a huge milestone for the team. We hadn’t seen that type of productivity from a player in program history, it was a benchmark that we were doing what we needed to do on both ends of the field."

Correia began the process of applying for the Coast Guard Officer School during her senior year. A personal medical issue put that dream on pause and she took a job in Texas. After a few months in the Lonestar State, she began to realize that something didn't feel right. She soon found out that her alma mater had a masters program and the rest is history.

In the fall of 2018, she began as a graduate assistant for women's athletics recruiting while also coaching alongside head women's lacrosse coach Marc Palombo. It was at that time a new opportunity would arise for Correia.

"When the Assistant Athletic Director position opened up towards the end of my graduate assistantship, I felt like I had some unfinished business here with building a recruiting pipeline for our women’s athletics programs so I tossed my name in the hat," Correia said. "The biggest thing I learned through this whole process is that the path to your goals isn’t always linear; it almost never is. There was a bit of time where I dreaded being asked by classmates so what are you doing now because I didn’t really have a plan I just knew I was happy and was doing something good here for the MMA community. Joining the Coast Guard Reserves this summer will allow me to continue doing what I love here at MMA and serve my country."

Although she may only be a few years older than the cadets/student-athletes she works with, her experience at the Academy helped prepare her for it. Having just graduated herself, she can relate to their daily life and understand what they are going through. With her experience as a student-athlete and now as a administrator/coach, she has one piece of advice for those in their current college career. 

"Figure out what your priorities are early and reevaluate them often," Correia said. "Being a collegiate student-athlete requires a lot of time and effort and you will be pulled into several directions. Your time is a valuable asset - spend it wisely by prioritizing what you need to do vs. what would be nice to do."