Getting a Kick Out of Rachel Nuzzolese
Sometimes as a sportswriter it’s more valuable to know what you don’t know than what you know.
Or something like that.
One such time came about this week when I was assigned a story on Wake’s run to its first College Cup in Women’s Soccer. Coach Tony da Luz’ team, having already set the school record with 18 victories, will play Duke tonight in the semifinals in Kennesaw, Ga. Compadre John Dell, who actually knows something about soccer, suggested that sophomore Rachel Nuzzolese might make for a good feature, and I’m happy he did. The results of that collaboration ran in the Journal Thursday, but you can also read it here. Full-Speed Nuzzolese Bolsters Deacons
We’d arranged for me to talk with Nuzzolese and da Luz on Tuesday, so along about Monday night the notion hits me that I might do well to familiarize myself with the subject. The internet of the 21st century is an amazing realm, so all it took was a little Googling to come across this fabulous video of Rachel during her days at St. Anthony’s High School in Upper Brookville, N.Y. Watch Rachel Nuzzolese Kick a Football
What a find. I knew I’d have something fun to ask her about.
As it turned out, we’d met. Nuzzolese had happened by the wall one day this fall when a bunch of wall birds and I were watching Jim Grobe put his football team through its paces, and Lee Puckett, whose mother Jenny Puckett had Rachel in one of her Spanish classes, introduced us all around. I was struck by what a friendly, vivacious person she was.
The interview, as I expected, went well. I asked if she really thought she could kick for a college football team and she said yes. From watching her kick on that video, with absolutely no instruction whatsoever, I wouldn’t bet against her. I jokingly said that Jimmy Newman better worry about his position as kicker on the Deacons’ football team.
“I’m actually good friends with Jimmy,’’ Nuzzolese said. “I don’t really bust his chops too much.’‘
Her background is really interesting. Her mom Joyce Nuzzolese was an All-American in hurdles in high school and her father, Michael Nuzzolese, played center for the Louisville football team from 1979-1982. When I asked about siblings, she smiled.
Her brother Richard Nuzzolese is 21 and he’s a fitness model, as you can see here. Richard Nuzzolese Enjoying Christmas 2009 He also appeared in a Katy Perry video Last Friday Night which is a pretty big deal considering that even a old warhorse like me knows who Katy Perry is.
I asked her if any of her teammates wanted to get to know her brother.
“Some of them,’’ she said. “We just kid around about that.’‘
What da Luz was not ready to kid around about that, though was lending Grobe one of his star players to kick for the Deacons on Saturday.
“It’s not going to happen,’’ du Luz said. “I’m not sharing.’‘
Da Luz said he was really proud of all of Nuzzolese’s hard work and commitment to return from a torn knee ligament. She’s a force on the field, who teams with Katie Stengel to give the Deacons their best one-two punch ever.
“Goals win you games, that’s for sure,’’ da Luz said. “It’s funny when you see her hit a ball because she doesn’t show a lot of effort when she kicks it. You think `What are you doing?’ And then the ball gets about halfway and then it just takes off. It’s the weirdest thing.
“Every time she hits a ball from left to right I’m just like `What are you doing?’ And then it’s over the defender’s head like that. The defender is frozen. They think they’re going to get it and then it just keeps carrying. It’s really a weird thing. I’ve never seen anything like it.’‘