Nicole Ceraso is a builder. For her, there’s a draw to taking something overlooked or forgotten about and turning it into something greater.
The Monmouth women’s lacrosse team went just 6-12 in 2017, Ceraso’s freshman season in West Long Branch, N.J. The Hawks improved to 8-10 the following season before finishing 12-6 last spring.
But the 2019 campaign ended on a sour note with a 16-15 loss to Siena in the opening round of the MAAC tournament. Ceraso could sense the tides were turning.
“Since I was a freshman, my goal was to get Monmouth on the map,” said Ceraso, who hasn’t returned home to her Long Island home in Massapequa. Instead, she’s still living in a house near Monmouth with her roommate and teammate, Chloe Novak.
“I feel like this year was going to be so special. We had an awesome senior class leading the team. Our goal was to win the MAAC championship. Our goal was to go to the NCAA tournament, and I knew we were going to do that this year.”
Mental training had been a main focus for this Monmouth team, and head coach Jordan Trautman described the Hawks’ last four games as “60-minute battles” — especially in the team’s final game against Wagner.
“The Wagner game felt like we had taken a huge step in our mental toughness,” Trautman said. “Mental toughness was truly part of our team identity.”
Like many seniors across the country, Ceraso anxiously awaited the NCAA Division I Council vote on eligibility relief for spring student-athletes. That motion passed Monday night.
Even before the vote, Ceraso was adamant about her intentions.
“I’m coming back to Monmouth,” she said.
Technically, that was the plan anyway. Ceraso intended on becoming a graduate assistant on Trautman’s staff while pursuing her MBA in real estate development. It’s her love of building something worthwhile that’s drawn her down that career path.
“I think she’s a kid that works really hard, makes sure people around her are working really hard,” Trautman said. “I feel like she would thrive in every single situation, but given what we are as a program, she was a perfect person for the job.”
As Monmouth rose through the MAAC, Ceraso rose through the program record book.
She’s Monmouth’s all-time assists leader and was just 11 points away from becoming the all-time points leader when the season was canceled.
“I do think about [the points record], but right now, it’s kind of the last thing on my mind,” Ceraso said. “Everything got taken away from us so quickly. I feel like I’m still in denial. It’s like I’m still on break.”
Ceraso said she’s “the type of person who has an obsession with a schedule,” so this new normal requires an adjustment that she’s described as “hard.”
In a true testament to her dedication to her craft, Ceraso said she’s resorted to working out to pass the time.
“The only thing that’s been getting me through this is working out,” Ceraso said. “My school is right by the beach, so I’ve been running on the boardwalk every day.”
And knowing the type of captain Ceraso is, Trautman said it’s likely her work ethic is having an impact on her teammates.
“She’s probably making sure that 29 of her teammates are doing the same thing,” Trautman said. “She keeps everybody accountable, and she really does it by leading by example.”
When pressed to describe her other free-time hobbies, Ceraso said she’s enjoyed team video meetings and playing Scattergories over Zoom with her family. Anything to help get her mind off the devastation of losing her senior season.
But she’ll be back to break that points record and oversee what she hopes are the final pieces of construction in building Monmouth into the MAAC champion.
“I feel like I need to end my lacrosse career on my own terms,” Ceraso said. “I’m just so unsatisfied with how it ended, and I know we were going to do big things this year.”