Two-Sport Star Remains On the Go at Greenville
By Matt Herb, SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
02/09/2008

Natalie Lappe is one of those people. You know the type. Always busy, always rushing to class or practice or work.

Lappe plays two sports at Greenville College — soccer and basketball — and that's actually a respite from her go-go high school days. She played three sports at Greenville (Ill.) High, excelling at soccer, basketball and volleyball.

"I'm an early riser," she said. "I get up early and I have to find something to do right away."

How early is early?

"I usually get up around 7 o'clock. For a college student, that's not too bad."

Lappe had a marvelous soccer season last fall, scoring 29 goals and adding 12 assists. She scored in 17 consecutive games and was named St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player of the year.

Her senior basketball season is also shaping up nicely. The 5-foot-6 guard leads the SLIAC in assists (5.4 per game) and has been one of the keys to Greenville's rise to the upper reaches of the conference standings with a 14-5 overall record and an 8-2 mark in conference play heading into today's home game against SLIAC frontrunner Maryville (16-3, 11-0).

"Natalie is the engine that runs this car," Greenville basketball coach Roy Mulholland said. "That's who she is. She runs the show for us. The other night against MacMurray (a 60-49 Greenville victory), she didn't score much, but she had 11 assists. She's the kid who handles the ball, and when she's playing well and controlling things, we usually do well."

Lappe originally enrolled at McKendree University. She was recruited to play basketball, but when she arrived on campus she decided she wanted to play soccer, too. During her freshman season she made a bad cut in practice and injured the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. It was the end of both her soccer and basketball seasons.

It also ended her stay at McKendree. While sitting out, she decided to enroll at Greenville the following year. Although she had to wear a knee brace initially, she persevered, making the starting lineups in soccer and basketball with the Panthers.

Playing two sports definitely has been a challenge, never more so than during the switchover from soccer to basketball.

"Everybody thinks, 'Oh, you're already in shape,'" Lappe said. "But it's a completely different kind of shape. Soccer is long distance — sprinting, jogging and walking. Basketball is a constant sprint. It's short distance. And you've got to meet the new people and get into a rhythm with them. It's a several-week process."

Lappe is taking only one credit this semester as she completes work on her degree in management and marketing. But she's still keeping busy. Last week, she started working full-time as a production analyst at Nevco, a Greenville-based manufacturer of scoreboards and video displays.

With her college career winding down, Lappe finds herself looking back wistfully on the past five years. Even the injury doesn't seem so bad in hindsight.

"It was also one of the greatest lessons of my life," she said. "Things happen and you've got to push through. Since I've been at Greenville, things have just fallen into place for me. There have been some ups and downs, but people here at the school and the opportunities I've had have kept pushing me forward."

Reprinted by permission, St. Louis Post-Dispatch