With Kaplan, UNH is twice blessed

Framingham athlete plays soccer, lacrosse

Shaunna Kaplan is one of a small number of athletes who juggle two sports at a Division 1 college. She plays soccer and lacrosse at the University of New Hampshire. (University of New Hampshire)

Grueling training regimens mixed with study time can turn the offseason into a test in focus for many college athletes.

Shaunna Kaplan can't relate.

Two years ago, she was a Globe All-Scholastic in soccer as a forward for Framingham High, and the Globe's Division 1 girls' lacrosse Player of the Year as an attack. Now, she's one of those rare athletes who juggle two sports at a Division 1 college, suiting up for the University of New Hampshire's soccer and lacrosse squads and making a splash in both.

Kaplan was an America East Conference all-rookie selection in both sports, though she'll tell you the balancing act hasn't been easy.

"It was a little hard my freshman year, being the youngest," she said, noting that some people were saying " 'Who is this girl, trying to play two sports?' But you become best friends." By the end of soccer season last year, she said, "they opened up and let me in."

As a sophomore last fall, she started 17 of 20 soccer games at midfield and notched 9 points (3 goals, 3 assists) to rank third on the team in scoring. She scored the Wildcats' lone goal in a 2-1 loss to Boston University in the America East Conference championship.

In the spring, she racked up 35 points (23 goals, 12 assists) for the lacrosse team. The Wildcats made the NCAA tournament as an at-large entry, and were ousted in the first round, 16-8, by conference champ BU.

Heading into her junior year, she looks poised for even bigger things.

"I'm way more prepared," she said.

This summer, Kaplan played against older players in the Eastern Mass. Women's Soccer League. As a member of the Medfield-based Azzurri squad, she turned some heads with her maneuvers as a midfielder playing the outside.

She made the move to Azzurri from the Mass. Premier League's Boston Renegades, alongside one of her best friends, Framingham's Melanie Baskind. Following the trail blazed by Kaplan, Baskind was the Globe's Division 1 Player of the Year in both soccer and lacrosse as a senior, and is on track to play two sports at Harvard, as a freshman this fall.

Kaplan was off to a good start for the Renegades at the beginning of last summer. But midway through, she took a two-week trip to Israel, and didn't return to the team the rest of the season.

This summer, Wildcats coach Michael Jackson told her to focus on soccer, and she has gotten the most out of her summer break. Azzurri scored 50 goals on the season and won the league championship, its third win in four straight appearances in the finals.

While some midfielders are straightforward in their approach to getting the ball to their forwards, Kaplan chooses to have a little fun. Armed with a series of head fakes, toe touches, and jab steps, she finds ways to get through even double and triple coverage.

"I'm not really a direct kind of player," she said.

It's the kind of stuff that Azzurri head coach Dick Fischman said he hasn't seen from many of his players in his 15 years with the squad.

"This was instinct," Fischman said. "She made a couple of moves I haven't seen her do before. This wasn't just once, this was repeatedly in competitive play. She just had a phenomenal game." And, he added, "She can outrun any defender on the field."