As a striker with a love for the back of the net, Montigny repeatedly made her presence felt on the field this season, especially against archrival Williams College. "Tracy is a quiet finisher who gets the job done and has come through in huge situations as a first year player," praised Head Coach Michelle Morgan.
The sport of soccer isn't anything new to Montigny. At the age of six, she was already on the field playing with a premier team, as well as kicking the ball around with her father and two older brothers.
"I looked up to my brothers a lot from that very first season right through my time at Amherst," said Montigny. "When it came to soccer, they taught me to be tough and their lessons have stuck with me."
During high school, Montigny juggled playing soccer for both her school team and a team composed of star players chosen from her entire home state of Connecticut Captain of her high school and premier team, Montigny pulled in numerous honors, including three-time All-Conference and one-time All-State designations. Off the field, she was no less distinguished, earning the CIAC scholar-athlete award her senior year in high school. When it came time to apply to college, there was little doubt in Montigny's mind about where she wanted to spend her next four years. "I'd wanted to go to Amherst since my sophomore year in high school," Montigny said. "My hometown friend and role model Katie Connelly '00 went here. Amherst was the first school I visited and I immediately fell in love with both the school and the team." With one season already under her belt, little has changed. "The team is wonderful. Everyone gets along so well, it's like having 26 sisters."
Montigny especially credited veteran midfielder Cathy Poor '02 for her advice and knowledge, both on and off the soccer field. "Cathy has been a big influence to me because of her incredible work ethic and decision-making skills," said Montigny.
Montigny must have received some good advice from her mentor, because she racked up a string of impressive statistics in her first year at Amherst. With 11 goals and five assists, Montigny finished the season with 27 points, second on the team only to Poor, the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Offensive Player, who finished her senior season with a whopping 41 points.
Not only did Montigny post impressive numbers this fall, she did it while playing a position that was relatively new to her. "I switched over from being a midfielder to a striker when I got to Amherst because of the pre-existing depth of talented midfielders on the team," Montigny explained. "I quickly grew to like playing striker, though, because of the increased opportunities for scoring. The lesser amount of running, as compared to that of the midfielders, wasn't so bad either."
In the NESCAC Championship game this fall, Montigny did exactly what she was supposed to do: score. Coming off of a 5-1 win in the semifinal against Middlebury College where she had two goals, Montigny broke a tie in the 119th minute of the championship game against Williams.
Fed the ball by Margaret Rubin '02, Montigny scored the sudden death goal that would earn her NESCAC Player of the Week honors and advance the team to the NCAA Tournament."There's just something about playing Williams that gets our entire team to just step it up a notch," she said.
Coach Morgan agreed with Montigny. "Tracy scored some big game-winning goals for us this year, especially in the second Williams game," said Morgan.
Although the second place finish will be a tough act to follow, Montigny is already looking ahead to next season. By playing in an indoor league over Interterm, and remaining on her Connecticut premier club team next spring, Montigny hopes to add to her arsenal of ball handling and scoring skills. Accompanied by 10 other freshmen teammates, Montigny will look to spearhead yet another winning season for the Jeffs next fall. But for now, she can sit back and enjoy this fall's fairy tale season and her important role in the team's success.