Morse Sets Standard On and Off Field
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By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE –– Long before she moved in last weekend, University of Virginia soccer standout Zoe Morse had a good idea what living on the Lawn would be like. During the 2018-19 academic year, she regularly stopped by the UVA landmark to visit her teammate Betsy Brandon.
“I feel like she saw first-hand how I chose to use my room, and through casual conversation I think I probably threw out pieces of advice about what to cherish the most,” Brandon, who now plays for the Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League, said in an email. “She spent both Trick or Treating on the Lawn and Lighting of the Lawn in my room, and those were both such special nights.”
Brandon, who graduated from the University in May, wrote that she “always tried to keep my door open for people to stop by — friends and strangers alike — so that all felt welcome at UVA. And knowing Zoe, she’ll do the same. Overall, my goal living there was to spread kindness and love within the community in my own unique way, and we chatted about that many times! Zoe’s the kind of person who is always seeking to make this world a better place.I think she recognized that living on the Lawn helps extend your reach throughout the community and increase the gravity of your impact.”
For any fourth-year student, “living on the Lawn is such a significant honor,” Virginia head women’s soccer coach Steve Swanson said. “For us to have representatives like Betsy and Zoe, we’re proud of them, that’s for sure, and they deserve it. They’re good people. They do all the right things.If you would define student-athlete, I think you’d get a picture of Zoe.”
Morse is one of two student-athletes living on the Lawn this school year, along with Carl Söderlund (men’s tennis). Another Lawn resident, Molly Shields, is a former rower at UVA.
She wasn’t confident she’d be chosen for a room on the Lawn, Morse said, but after visiting Brandon there, “I thought, ‘That would be really cool. It might be a long shot, but I’m going to apply.’ “
Morse, who’s from East Lansing, Mich., has represented the United States on the U15, U17, U18, and U20 national teams, and she’s a four-year starter for the Cavaliers. Her final college season starts Friday night at 7 o’clock, when ninth-ranked UVA meets UC Irvine at Klöckner Stadium. Virginia hosts Liberty there at 2 p.m. Sunday.
“That’s going to be crazy,” Morse said of the opener. “Walking up to Klöckner, I know there’s going to be a different sort of feeling on that day. There’s definitely going to be a little extra motivation.”
In 2018, when the Wahoos advanced to the NCAA tournament’s third round, they had four captains. Morse was the only junior in the group.
“It speaks to the impact she’s had in our program since the very beginning of her career,” Swanson said. “I think since day one she has led by example, and she’s a very disciplined, responsible athlete. She’s done all the right things, and she prepares the right way. You don’t have to worry about her.”
Morse and classmate Meghan McCool are Virginia’s captains this season. For Morse, reality hit her when the Hoos returned recently from their annual training camp in Glen Arbor, Mich., on the shores of Lake Michigan.
“I don’t think it really set in that I was a fourth-year until I got back here and I was actually moving into my room,” Morse said, “and I realized that I only have a short time left here. Which is sad, but also motivating in a way, because I want to have the best experience [as a fourth-year].”
Training back in her home state was a bittersweet experience for Morse. “I absolutely love it up there,” she said, “so I don’t like it being my last time. But rather than focusing on this being my last training there, this being my last meal there, I just wanted to soak it all in in the moment and enjoy it with my teammates.”
Her father is a physician who attended medical school at Michigan State, and Morse, 21, may one day follow his example. At UVA, she’s majoring in global public health, with a minor in environmental science.
Her passions include sustainability. She’s been active in Sustainability Advocates, an organization on Grounds, and along with two other student-athletes, softball’s Savana Avilla and track & field’s Sadey Rodriguez, Morse leads the Green Athletics program.
“We’re kind of helping bridge the gap between the [University’s] Office for Sustainability and the athletics department,” Morse said. “They already have a relationship, but from an athlete’s perspective, we really want to emphasize that we’re looking to make lifestyle changes in a more sustainable direction, and this is something that’s important, and as an athletics department we have a platform that we can work from and hopefully inspire other people to do the same thing.
“From an athlete level, we’re looking at using fewer single-use plastic items, opting for more energy-efficient appliances and things like that. We’re doing what we can do.”
Swanson, a Michigan State alumnus, has strong ties with the Michigan Hawks club for which Morse starred, and he’d followed her for years by the time she enrolled at UVA in the summer of 2016.
“We kind of felt we knew what we had, but what’s transpired over her time here is even more impressive,” Swanson said. “She’s gone through challenges, but she’s persevered, and she’s distinguished herself here in almost every category.
“She’s distinguished herself on the field, she’s distinguished herself in the classroom, she’s distinguished herself in the community, she’s a leader, and she’s just somebody who you can model things after. She’s somebody who you know is going to always represent the program and the school in the right way. You don’t doubt that for a second.”
Morse started at holding midfielder as a UVA freshman before switching to center back in 2017. That’s been her primary position ever since.
“I think they’re both very similar in a lot of ways,” Swanson said, “and I think Zoe’s had good experience playing those positions, not just with our team, but with the national team as well. I think it was a matter of what was going to be best for her moving forward, and obviously what was going to be best for the team.
“To me, she’s one of the best center backs in the country. I think she could also be one of the best center midfielders in the country. We choose to use her [at center back] because of her impact on our team and what we need, and there’s been some good relationships in that backline between that class.”
Morse, Phoebe McClernon and Courtney Petersen “have played together for a long time, so you want to take advantage of that as well,” Swanson said, “and you add [goalkeeper] Laurel [Ivory] into that group also. Laurel has been with those guys for a couple years now as well. There’s good relationships there, they understand one another, and certainly as a coach you want to take advantage of that as well.”
Swanson was an assistant coach on the United States team that in July won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France. U.S. players included three former UVA greats: Becky Sauerbrunn, Morgan Brian and Emily Sonnett.
Morse would love to represent the U.S. at that level one day, she said, but “my mindset right now is I want to play the best that I can possibly play [for Virginia this season], and hopefully that will lead to good things. I want to do my best representing UVA right now.”
Swanson said: “Do I think she can make it? Absolutely, but I felt the same way about Becky Sauerbrunn coming out, and in Becky’s case, I don’t think she got her time with the national team for four or five years after she turned professional. I think it’s important that all these players who go on to play professionally, they really focus in on their development and getting better. And I would say that’s the same thing for college, that they really devote themselves to developing when they’re here. I think that’s one thing that sets Zoe apart from others that I’ve seen. Even though she was on the Under-20 national team, she’s still working as hard as anybody, and that’s been a real asset to her. I think the sky’s the limit for her.”