Temple University Athletics
Victoria Macaulay
Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University
Victoria Macaulay's Time to Shine
2.28.13 | Women's Basketball
Women's basketball senior Victoria Macaulay will be honored for Senior Day at the Owls' game on Sunday, March 3 against Fordham at 2:00 p.m. OwlSports.com columnist Kami Mattioli wrote about Macaulay to honor the occasion.
--
With such a bubbly and effervescent personality, you'll feel Victoria Macaulay's presence before you see her.
The 6-4 senior from Staten Island, N.Y., radiates positivity wherever she goes, leaving a trail of smiling or chuckling teammates and coaches in her wake.
But that all changes the moment the self-proclaimed diva steps onto the court.
“I'm this rough and aggressive person on the court,” she explained. “Some days when I do want to dress up, my teammates call me a diva, because I can be a diva -- a girlie girl -- at times. But when it comes to playing rough and dirty on the basketball court, that's who I am.”
Macaulay is the fierce competitor in the middle of a scrum for a loose ball, or the bully in the paint shoving and bodying her way around opponents. She'll elevate to an impossible height to swat balls away from the rim. She'll stare down opponents, willing them to challenge her, to make a wrong move, to test her.
And then, during a timeout, she'll be in the middle of the huddle fixing her ponytail.
“She's definitely a diva for sure,” sophomore Monaye Merritt said with a laugh. “You can see it on the court. I think of divas as being feisty and she's definitely that. She comes in and puts her heart out there, whether her ponytail is nice or not.”
The lover and fighter dichotomy of her personality in addition to her versatility on the court is what makes Macaulay so valuable to this year's Temple Owls squad.
She has all of the physical tools necessary to make big plays at critical times, but also has the veteran mental acuity and emotional IQ to know exactly what to say to motivate herself and her teammates when they need a boost.
As the lone senior in the wake of the departure of last year's trio of seniors in Kristen McCarthy, Shey Peddy and BJ Williams, Macaulay had no shortage of roles to fill, and quickly.
“She had to definitely step up and be a leader for us,” head coach Tonya Cardoza said.
“I think she went into the season knowing that this could be her team, and that's something she's always wanted but she's had to take the backseat to other girls. She was the only one that had a lot of game experience and I felt like the way she ended her junior year -- scoring and rebounding -- that would be an added factor for us.”
Named the Big 5's and team's Most Improved Player at the end of last season was a great accolade for the high school standout, but it was merely a stepping stone in what she set out to achieve for this -- her last -- season.
Macaulay is nothing if not incredibly goal-oriented.
When asked about last season's awards, she referred back to a set of goals she had established for herself in the middle of the offseason.
“I set a goal for myself before the season even started that I should be averaging a double-double,” she said, introspectively.
“I was just trying to be more than “most improved” -- the goal this year is to be player of the year. For me to reach that goal would be a great opportunity so I'm just trying to strive for that.”
Averaging 14.3 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per game through 26 games this season, Macaulay is just shy of achieving her preseason goal, but her value to the squad is at an all-time high.
“She's done more than I think anyone thought she could. When we recruited her, we knew that she had potential, but to see her now and see how versatile she is and how much better she's gotten is just a credit to her work ethic,” Cardoza said.
As Cardoza carefully watched over practice from the sidelines, Macaulay began barking at teammates, chiding them and challenging them to put forth more effort.
“She's very vocal,” Cardoza said with a laugh. “She's been that way since she was a freshman. That's her personality.”
And while it's a style that may not be suited to everyone, it works for Macaulay because her cheery personality tempers the sharp edges that her passion for the sport and fierce will to win sometimes create.
“Vic is a fun leader because she's not afraid to get after you,” Merritt explained. “Last year, no one was willing to bark at you and tell you to pick it up. But from practice to the weight room, Vic will call you out and tell you to do more.”
As the team's only senior, nearly all of the pressure to perform often seems to fall into Macaulay's lap, which, over the course of a long season can be grating, but she seems to take it all in stride.
“I just always want to be that positive energy on the team,” she said. “It's a lot to handle but for the most part the girls look up to me and it's not a bad thing being a leader.”
Throughout her high school career at Curtis High in Staten Island, N.Y., Macaulay was the go-to player, the leader that her teammates relied on in their times of need. Her interest in basketball was more a function of her height than her passion.
As such, the adjustment to the constant immersion of college basketball took slightly longer than she and her coaches had expected, but once she was presented with the opportunity to fall back into a clutch role, similar to that of her high school career, things began to click.
As Cardoza remembers, that passion began to develop at the end of her sophomore season and came to fruition midway through last season.
“When we were recruiting her we saw potential because she was long, athletic and could get up and down. The skill level wasn't quite there but working with Coach Will, I saw her getting there,” Cardoza explained.
“And then even her sophomore year she still wasn't at the point where we thought she would be because she didn't love the game. I don't know what happened but the middle of last year, something clicked and everything about her changed.”
Cardoza thinks it was Macaulay coming to the realization that every possession of hers was critical -- that in the team's moment of need, it was her to whom they turned -- and that, after turning that corner, she hasn't looked back since.
“She knows how important it is for her to play well every single game for us. That's the most important thing.”
This team -- her team -- needs her. Whether her ponytail is perfect or not.
By Kami Mattioli, OwlSports.com columnist
--
With such a bubbly and effervescent personality, you'll feel Victoria Macaulay's presence before you see her.
The 6-4 senior from Staten Island, N.Y., radiates positivity wherever she goes, leaving a trail of smiling or chuckling teammates and coaches in her wake.
But that all changes the moment the self-proclaimed diva steps onto the court.
“I'm this rough and aggressive person on the court,” she explained. “Some days when I do want to dress up, my teammates call me a diva, because I can be a diva -- a girlie girl -- at times. But when it comes to playing rough and dirty on the basketball court, that's who I am.”
Macaulay is the fierce competitor in the middle of a scrum for a loose ball, or the bully in the paint shoving and bodying her way around opponents. She'll elevate to an impossible height to swat balls away from the rim. She'll stare down opponents, willing them to challenge her, to make a wrong move, to test her.
And then, during a timeout, she'll be in the middle of the huddle fixing her ponytail.
“She's definitely a diva for sure,” sophomore Monaye Merritt said with a laugh. “You can see it on the court. I think of divas as being feisty and she's definitely that. She comes in and puts her heart out there, whether her ponytail is nice or not.”
The lover and fighter dichotomy of her personality in addition to her versatility on the court is what makes Macaulay so valuable to this year's Temple Owls squad.
She has all of the physical tools necessary to make big plays at critical times, but also has the veteran mental acuity and emotional IQ to know exactly what to say to motivate herself and her teammates when they need a boost.
As the lone senior in the wake of the departure of last year's trio of seniors in Kristen McCarthy, Shey Peddy and BJ Williams, Macaulay had no shortage of roles to fill, and quickly.
“She had to definitely step up and be a leader for us,” head coach Tonya Cardoza said.
“I think she went into the season knowing that this could be her team, and that's something she's always wanted but she's had to take the backseat to other girls. She was the only one that had a lot of game experience and I felt like the way she ended her junior year -- scoring and rebounding -- that would be an added factor for us.”
Named the Big 5's and team's Most Improved Player at the end of last season was a great accolade for the high school standout, but it was merely a stepping stone in what she set out to achieve for this -- her last -- season.
Macaulay is nothing if not incredibly goal-oriented.
When asked about last season's awards, she referred back to a set of goals she had established for herself in the middle of the offseason.
“I set a goal for myself before the season even started that I should be averaging a double-double,” she said, introspectively.
“I was just trying to be more than “most improved” -- the goal this year is to be player of the year. For me to reach that goal would be a great opportunity so I'm just trying to strive for that.”
Averaging 14.3 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per game through 26 games this season, Macaulay is just shy of achieving her preseason goal, but her value to the squad is at an all-time high.
“She's done more than I think anyone thought she could. When we recruited her, we knew that she had potential, but to see her now and see how versatile she is and how much better she's gotten is just a credit to her work ethic,” Cardoza said.
As Cardoza carefully watched over practice from the sidelines, Macaulay began barking at teammates, chiding them and challenging them to put forth more effort.
“She's very vocal,” Cardoza said with a laugh. “She's been that way since she was a freshman. That's her personality.”
And while it's a style that may not be suited to everyone, it works for Macaulay because her cheery personality tempers the sharp edges that her passion for the sport and fierce will to win sometimes create.
“Vic is a fun leader because she's not afraid to get after you,” Merritt explained. “Last year, no one was willing to bark at you and tell you to pick it up. But from practice to the weight room, Vic will call you out and tell you to do more.”
As the team's only senior, nearly all of the pressure to perform often seems to fall into Macaulay's lap, which, over the course of a long season can be grating, but she seems to take it all in stride.
“I just always want to be that positive energy on the team,” she said. “It's a lot to handle but for the most part the girls look up to me and it's not a bad thing being a leader.”
Throughout her high school career at Curtis High in Staten Island, N.Y., Macaulay was the go-to player, the leader that her teammates relied on in their times of need. Her interest in basketball was more a function of her height than her passion.
As such, the adjustment to the constant immersion of college basketball took slightly longer than she and her coaches had expected, but once she was presented with the opportunity to fall back into a clutch role, similar to that of her high school career, things began to click.
As Cardoza remembers, that passion began to develop at the end of her sophomore season and came to fruition midway through last season.
“When we were recruiting her we saw potential because she was long, athletic and could get up and down. The skill level wasn't quite there but working with Coach Will, I saw her getting there,” Cardoza explained.
“And then even her sophomore year she still wasn't at the point where we thought she would be because she didn't love the game. I don't know what happened but the middle of last year, something clicked and everything about her changed.”
Cardoza thinks it was Macaulay coming to the realization that every possession of hers was critical -- that in the team's moment of need, it was her to whom they turned -- and that, after turning that corner, she hasn't looked back since.
“She knows how important it is for her to play well every single game for us. That's the most important thing.”
This team -- her team -- needs her. Whether her ponytail is perfect or not.
By Kami Mattioli, OwlSports.com columnist
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