Medina defender Lilly Ma to continue soccer career at St. Bonaventure

It did not take Medina senior soccer standout Lilly Ma long to fall in love with everything St. Bonaventure had to offer, which is a list as multi-faceted and diverse as the former Bees defender's skills on the pitch. Once she found St. Bonaventure, Ma found the decision to commit to the Division I Bonnies a simple choice. "I really enjoyed the coaching staff and the culture of the team," she said. "It also has a great academic program for what I'm interested in, so overall it was just a really great fit. None (of the other schools) really compared to St. Bonaventure." There were other schools to consider, mostly smaller than the New York state campus roughly 3½ hours from Medina, but none offered the full complement of opportunities that Ma, a 2022 All-Gazette selection, found with the Bonnies. Among the other schools she considered before making her choice were John Carroll and Ohio Northern. Her commitment followed St. Bonaventure's hiring of former Niagara assistant Donny George as its head coach last month. George takes over a team that went 3-8-6 last year, including 1-8-1 in the Atlantic-10. "I was on campus two weeks ago and coach Donny George is new to the program," she said. "He's eager to start moving and becoming a more dominant power in the A-10 Conference. Overall, he was great in helping me go through the recruiting process. "The girls have all been super welcoming as well. They are eager to have new people on campus to expand their team." Ma, who received a partial scholarship, is looking to help the developing program by taking what she learned at Medina and expanding on that knowledge and skill base. "I'm just really hoping to apply all of the lessons I've learned and the traits about myself to the team," she said. "Being someone that played youth soccer in Medina made me someone that values community and being a good teammate. I'm hoping I can make a big impact on the field." The soccer aspect of Ma's decision was just one piece of the equation. She also knew it was necessary to find a school that would help her develop the academics to succeed once her playing career is over. "It has a great business school and it's a pretty highly ranked academic school," she said. "That's something that's very important to me, considering all the work I've put in during my time at Medina. "I really like that it's a smaller-scale campus, but it doesn't feel like you're boxed in." While she is still deciding what degree she wants to pursue, Ma wants to be able to take her love of science, specifically the medical and pharmaceutical fields, and mix that with business. "Science has always just clicked in my brain," she said. "I've taken tons of helpful classes like anatomy. To pursue business but have that science touch is something that's important to me." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.