Fox Chapel grad Thiessen caps stellar career at Allegheny

 | SundayJune 25, 2017, TRIB-LIVE

Jessie Thiessen, a 2013 graduate of Fox Chapel, graduated this spring from Allegheny. Along with her diploma, the biology major also received the 2016-17 senior achievement award as the female student athlete who has had the most impact on Allegheny athletics during her four-year career.

Recruited as a soccer player, she also played lacrosse at Allegheny and excelled in both sports despite missing a season because of an ACL injury. She was captain of both teams in her senior year.

In soccer, she earned first-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference honors all three seasons she played, and each year was in the top three of the NCAC conference in goals, assists and points. She received the NCAC Newcomer of the Year her freshman season and finished in the top 10 all-time for points and assists for Allegheny women’s soccer. In addition, she was selected as an all-region player. She led the team in scoring in her freshman and sophomore years, and as a senior, she assisted or scored on 71 percent of the team’s goals.

Her contributions on the lacrosse field also were impressive. She earned NCAC first-team honors her junior and senior seasons. This season, she was selected as the NCAC Midfielder of the Year. She also received first-team Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association all-region honors her junior and senior seasons.

She was also selected to play in the IWLCA All-Star game in Sparks, Md. She played midfield on the North team, which defeated the South, 11-7. She finished the year with 15 goals, three assists, 59 ground balls, 38 caused turnovers and 84 draw controls.

She had no intention of playing lacrosse when she arrived at Allegheny.

“Well, I had signed with them for soccer,” She said. “I was talking to the soccer coach and mentioned that I also played lacrosse. The coach told me I should talk with the lacrosse coach, and afterwards, I began playing both sports.

She had to take a year off from both sports when she suffered a torn ACL and meniscus as sophomore.

“It was not an easy recovery, but I took my time,” she said. “I didn’t want to come back too early and reinjure it. The doctors and therapists were great. I was a little nervous when I got back on the field for the first time, but I felt confident.”

She acknowledges the transition to athletics in college was rough at first.

“It was a big change, but the coaches and upperclassmen gave us confidence and a sense of comfort,” she said. “We were like family. I never had as much fun playing soccer as I did at Allegheny.”

She is hoping to begin physician’s assistant school in the fall.