Oct. 10, 2005

Stony Brook, L.I. -- The usual path for a youth soccer player to Division I college is to play travel and high school soccer at high level. And, if you're talented and fortunate enough, make league or State ODP or even the regional pool and get noticed and earn an athletic scholarship.

Then there's Kirsandra Seaton, who has gone against the grain to become a key player for the Stony Brook women while winding up on the cover of the team media guide.

The senior midfielder from Medford, L.I. did not play any serious soccer until she got into college and even that wasn't a gimme. She needed help and a coach with some vision.

"The reason I think it's a great story for young people is A -- she went after something," Stony Brook coach Sue Ryan recently said. "She didn't wait for somebody to come to her. She went after something. 'I want to go to college and I want to play Division I soccer and I'm going to reach out.' I think that's a really important message.

"The second piece is that too many times young people nowadays have too much immediate gratification for things. I think she had a longer term vision. I want to get a good education at a good school and I want to play. And if I don't play right away, I'm going to learn under this new tutelage. And I'm going to grow just to keep getting better and better and better.' "

Seaton called up Ryan out of the blue four years ago, telling her that she wanted to play college soccer. The Seawolves perform in the America East conference, which is Division I.

The highest youth level Seaton played at was inter-league, which is between recreation and intramural soccer. It is usually played between adjacent town leagues and most players are not considered for Division I soccer.

"I used to play with a lot of my cousins," Seaton said. "They came from Trinidad and a lot of my family played soccer."

Ryan was intrigued. She invited Seaton to her summer soccer camp four years ago to see what she had.

"I actually never went to a lot of camps," Seaton said. ""I really just liked the game. I just wanted to play."

Seaton comes from a religious family. Her father, Anthony Michael Thadeus Seaton, is pastor of Victory Church of God in East Patchogue ("He played the game in college. He could have gone pro as well. He decided not to in favor of becoming a pastor," she said). Her parents wanted their daughter to experience many things in life, so soccer was only one of many areas of interest, not necessarily an obsession.

"There were lots of other things that are good because I didn't just play soccer," Seaton said. "If I just focused on soccer, I might not have been developed in other area like music or even my character. My parents and my dad instilled character values in us. If I was always (focused) on soccer, I might have missed out on those things.

"I guess it all works out in the end."

Ryan liked what she saw. Seaton had secured an academic scholarship to Stony Brook -- she is a music and theater major -- and was a walk-on to the soccer team in her freshman year.

It wasn't an easy transition. The 5-foot-5 Seaton was still learning the game. There was so much to grasp.

"It was rough," she said. "I was so far behind.

"I would have loved to have played travel and develop myself when I was younger. So when I came to college, I wouldn't have to develop myself to get my game to that level."

But she persevered.

"A lot of the players were a lot bigger than me as far as physically stronger," Seaton said. "Because they were playing all this time, they were more developed. So I had to actually develop my body. Then as far as getting my touch up to par technically, I could beat a player but I had no touch on the ball . . . I didn't know about developing different surfaces passing the ball and then basically just learning it in the context of full field games."

Kizzy, as she is called by Ryan and her teammates, made incredible strides.

Asked why she has learned, Seaton replied: "Basically, everything you need to know about organized ball. Coach -- she is a great coach. I've learned all about the game, the movements of the game. I knew a lot about skill, technically moving the ball, beating a player but I had no idea about passing and positioning. She taught me everything I needed to know.

"I am really happy with my progress. I think it's great that I was able to move one place to another. But then again I also want to get farther than that. I want to go to even higher level."

Ryan wishes she had more players with the desire and passion of Seaton.

"Her freshman year she barely played at all," she said. "Now she's a senior on the cover of our media guide. That's a testament of how hard she worked. I think there are just too many players who think, 'Ok, I've made it through all my club and now I'm 18 and now I'm just going to kind of survive through college.'

"College is a ground for growth and change, maturity-wise and emotionally, physically. I don't think people take enough stock in that. To her credit, she has worked and worked and worked on her touch on her understanding of the game and all of those things. She has become a very dynamic and dangerous player. She has worked for everything. She has the respect of her teammates and us as a result of that. I think that's a great life lesson."