Resca Commits to Northeastern
Wed, 11/27/2019 - 12:00am
Heraldgroton
Classmates and members of the soccer team share their excitement for senior captain Bianca Resca who signed her letter of intent. She will major in physical therapy and compete on the women's soccer team at Northeastern University. Photo by Robert Mingolelli
By Robert Mingolelli
Joseph and Heidi Resca were all smiles when their daughter GD senior captain Bianca Resca signed her letter of intent to officially commit to attend Northeastern University and compete on the women’s soccer team.
The Rescas moved to Groton in 1997 and Anthony, Nicholas and Bianca started playing soccer, first with Kids Kick, then with GD Youth Soccer Club (GDYSC). Anthony (GD class of 2014) graduated from UCONN and Nicholas (GD Class of 2017) is a junior at Rochester Institute of Technology.
In addition to playing for GDYSC, Bianca started playing soccer outside of Groton at the competitive club soccer level for FC Stars when she was 10 years old and has played for them since the fall of 2011.
Nicholas started training as a goalkeeper for Football Club Stars in spring 2011 and Bianca saw how much fun he was having and fol- lowed in his footsteps. They both trained with FC Stars goalkeeper coach Matt Davison. Nick and Bianca never trained together but Bianca was always working hard to live up to the expectations that Nick had set.
As a 16 year old sophomore playing for the FC Stars Development Academy team in Lancaster, Bianca was scouted, eventually making a verbal commitment to Resca Commits to Northeastern attend Northeastern in June of 2016.
“Bianca Resca is an upbeat, compassionate, humorous student and it has been a pleasure working with her,” commented guidance counselor Mark Hennelly. “Considering her athletic talent, work ethic and character, her acceptance to Northeastern is well deserved.”
“It was my pleasure to meet Bianca in the fall of her freshman year,” offered Groton-Dunstable science teacher and Athletic Trainer Steven Kleeman.
“Through her involvement with athletics (soccer, ice hockey), a student, volunteer in training over her four years of high school, I was able to get to know her. She is an excellent student who takes on challenging courses, excels and brings a remarkably positive at- titude with her every day,” offered Kleeman.
“Math is a demanding sub- ject but Bianca works extremely hard each day and strives to un- derstand and grasp the concepts,” said math teacher and Math De- partment Chair Angus MacDonald. “Her work since the beginning of the school year has shown her dedication to her education and her math. She has improved so much since the start of this school year.”
“Bianca is a special athlete and a special leader,” added GD girls varsity soccer coach Sean
Murphy. “With her leading our defense (in goal) and the entire team this season, we gave up a miniscule eight goals all sea- son, and she was in goal for only seven of them! Our defense took on her attitude: Never give in and give it your all! It was like having a coach on the field during the games. She was constantly talk- ing to and helping the field players. She could sometimes even get a bit loud and demanding of the players but they always knew it was for the good of the team. Immediately after the whistle she would be the first one to give a teammate a hug. She was looked up to and respected by all the girls in our program.”
I asked Bianca to highlight a memorable soccer game over her many years of playing the game she loves. Interestingly, it was a significant game for coach Mur- phy as well.
GD was down 1-0. Coach Murphy pulled Bianca, the starting goalie, out of net and onto the field, a strategy he employed a few times this season as well as the game against Wachusett, October 15 on Senior Night. “When she is on the field, she becomes one of the best ‘field’ players out there,” he said.
“We had a free kick taken by Maggie Jiser and it was headed across by Abby Eisenklam and Bianca was in the perfect spot to hammer it home with about eight seconds to play to tie the game. It was one of the highlights of my three seasons as coach of this program,” related coach Murphy.
“It was so special,” recalled Bianca. “I have been playing soc- cer with this group of girls since we started playing in Kids Kick and to score that goal with all my friends was special.” “The team had amazing leadership overall this year with captains Bianca, Jillian Van Pelt, Maggie Jiser and Abby Eisenklam. Bianca is a mix of leadership, talent, athleticism and the ultimate team player,” continued Murphy.
Bianca also loves playing ice hockey and has played for the East Coast Wizards program in Bed- ford, MA since 2011. She is a de- fenseman for the U19 Girls Major 2 team and will also play for the GDRHS boys’ hockey team this winter.
It’s a win/win: for Bianca, attending an outstanding University and for Northeastern, an incredible addition to the school community.
“I have witnessed Bianca grow into an outstanding person possessing the intellect, curiosity, drive and maturity to excel in the college environment and beyond,” offered Steve Kleeman.
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