Deacon Sports Xtra: Everett Found Something Bigger than Herself at Wake Forest
11/3/2021 10:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
“We wanted to be the best women’s program that Wake Forest has ever seen. I was just at the start. There were many players who came after me who continued to build it, but I’m honored to be part of that legacy.”
This piece is a member of a series of stories to celebrate 50 Years of Women's Intercollegiate Athletics at Wake Forest, presented by Blue Cross NC.
With ample experience on the US Junior National teams that helped increase her exposure, Jenny Everett was recruited by all of the top field hockey programs in the country, and her father had a detailed plan to help her pick the right collegiate destination.
As an aerospace engineer, Everett's dad devised a spreadsheet — this was much more than just plus-and-minuses or pros-and-cons.
"It was algorithms, probability weighted, academics, athletics, national ranking and geography," Everett recalls. "It was insane. He would have me fill it out for each school."
But a recruiting visit to Wake Forest and head coach Jennifer Averill forced Everett to toss the analytics out the proverbial window.
"No matter what, I'm going here," she said. "This is where I'm going to achieve great things, and the team is going to achieve great things. I wanted to be in this community of student-athletes, both academically and athletically. There was nowhere else I could imagine being. To me that decision almost happened on my recruiting visit.
"I'm sure he was disappointed I didn't use the spreadsheet, but when you know, you know. Sometimes the best decisions come from your gut."
She never even filled in the blanks on the spreadsheet for Wake Forest.
"I would have fixed it so it would have made the cut," Everett said.
The recruiting visit to Wake Forest was sealed on game day, when Everett watched Averilll work her magic.
"Pregame with Jen — there's nothing like it," Everett said. "They didn't win the game I attended, but it's the way she motivated the team and interacted with the assistants. The way the players interacted with each other — they were a family. It was very clear to me that it was the type of environment I wanted to be in. I wanted to be challenged, but I also wanted to be accountable.
"I wanted to be driven, but kept in check. It was a great atmosphere of which I wanted to be a part. It was nearly instantaneous once I stepped on campus that it was the place for me."
Looking at the results, it's hard to argue against her gut decision. Everett had a storied four-year career at Wake Forest, scribbling her name all over the record book while helping establish the Demon Deacons as a national powerhouse.
"The number one reason I chose to come to Wake Forest from a very small rural Vermont community is Jen Averill," Everett said. "You won't find a more passionate, tactically-intelligent, relationship driven coach who will make you the best person and player you can be. I was excited and honored to join that team and be part of building the tradition instead of maintaining the legacy that Wake Forest field hockey has.
"I was a part of Jen's game plan. There's nothing I wouldn't have done for Jen at that time and there's nothing I wouldn't do for her now. She develops trust and loyalty with her players, and that's even more rare now. We had tremendous team chemistry both on and off the field. I wasn't the easiest player to coach at times. I was a bit of a wild child, living life to the fullest. But Jen was able to channel my energy and the team's energy in the right places to get the best results."
The Demon Deacons went 18-4 in Everett's junior season in 1999, earning an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in program history. Everett scored 62 points on 27 goals and eight assists, earning first team All-American honors.
"We had an unbelievable set of people who came together," Everett said. "We wanted to be the best women's program that Wake Forest has ever seen. I was just at the start. There were many players who came after me who continued to build it, but I'm honored to be part of that legacy.
"It was validating and empowering at the same time. We wanted more. We wanted to achieve more. Every year brought in better-and-better student-athletes, but we all kind of had a chip on our shoulder. We were the underdog and needed to fight to win. We needed to fight to build a legacy. There was a higher mission and purpose — and it was team oriented.
Wake Forest lost to Michigan 3-2 to end the 1999 season just one game away from the Final Four, but defeated the Wolverines 3-2 the next year to make it to the national semifinals. They lost to Old Dominion in the Final Four that season, but by then the standard was set and the culture had been built.
"They won three national championships in a row after I graduated, which is amazing," Everett said. "My last game was a loss to Old Dominion. You always want to win your last game, and I still feel like that is unfinished business. I rely on Wake Forest field hockey in the future to finish it."
She left as the Wake Forest single-season and career leader in both points and goals — with all four records having since been surpassed by Kelly Dostal, who immediately followed in her footsteps (2001-04).
"Records are meant to be broken," Everett said. "You want people to join the program who are going to break those records, that way you're consistently raising that bar. You're consistently resetting a new standard of excellence, because hockey keeps getting better-and-better in the US. We need to do better internationally."
Both on and off the field, Wake Forest ended up being the perfect spot for Everett, who was named the new George Mason University Senior Associate Athletic Director and Chief Financial Officer in September.
"Academically, I can't say enough good things about Wake Forest," she said. "I'm still in touch with my professors, which speaks to the level of academics at Wake Forest and their small class sizes where they interact with their students. I believed I got the best education at Wake Forest. I have no regrets and I loved the time and professors I had back then."
With Averill at the helm, Wake Forest Field Hockey has advanced to NCAA Tournament play 17 times, made it to the Final Four 10 times and grabbed three national championships.
"It feels like vindication, honor and legacy," Everett said. "That's why I joined Wake Forest, to be part of something larger than myself. I was just a small part of the puzzle and there's more to go. There's absolutely more championships and national championships in the future for Wake Forest Field Hockey.
"We wanted to make Wake Forest Field Hockey into something it had never been."
