Wake Forest Athletics
Deacon Sports Xtra: Wake Forest Experience Gave Casella Tools for On and Off-Field Success
6/16/2022 10:25:00 AM | Field Hockey
“What you learn here is going to be applicable to anything, whether teamwork, leadership or adversity. The most enjoyable experience I had were the relationships, challenges and opportunities Wake Forest provided.”
Jenny Everett had finished her Wake Forest field hockey career several years before Liza Casella got started, but with both coming from Rutland High School in a small Vermont town, it was their connection that led Casella to Winston-Salem.
"What really led me to Wake Forest was meeting up with Jenny Everrett," Casella explained. "She was from my hometown in Vermont and played field hockey for the same high school coach that I had. I'd always heard of Jenny Everett, but she was a lot older, so we never played together. We didn't know each other."
The Rutland High School athletic director was also the football coach, and he held morning pre-class workouts for all the serious athletes in the school. It's in those workouts that Casella learned about Everett, who was inducted in the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
"Anybody who was a serious athlete in our school would do morning workouts with coach (Mike) Norman," Casella said. "I'd hear about Jenny Everett from him, about what a workhorse she was and how good of an athlete she was. As I started playing in different tournaments across the country and playing for the U.S. team, I came across Jenny right around the same time a Wake Forest Field Hockey flier came in the mail for me.
"We connected with Jenny at a US Tournament in Virginia Beach. She was playing and I was playing. I went down to camp and that's when Jen and I hit it off. The rest was history. I built a great relationship with her."
So when Casella, who arrived as a freshman in 2007, got to campus on her recruiting visit, the stage was already set for head coach Jennifer Averill to close the deal by also building a strong personal relationship.
"Jen brought me right into her world and we had such a great connection from the moment I stepped on campus for camp," Casella said. "That's when I knew I wanted to go to Wake Forest. I'm from a small town in Vermont, and family matters. The camaraderie matters a lot to me, and that's what Jen does so well. She's built an amazing program and really zeros into who you are as a person.
"I selected Wake Forest and Jen Averill because it wasn't just about sports. I loved field hockey, but I knew I wasn't going to be a coach. I was interested in staying involved in the sport, but I knew it wasn't my career path. Jen taught us a lot of things that had nothing to do with sports. What you learn here is going to be applicable to anything, whether teamwork, leadership or adversity. The most enjoyable experience I had were the relationships, challenges and opportunities Wake Forest provided."
The Deacs advanced to NCAA Tournament action all four years with Casella on the field, losing 4-2 to Maryland in the 2008 Championship game as a sophomore.
"I wasn't the best player, but I was consistent," Casella said. "I was a hard worker who never gave up. You wouldn't see me do fancy things. I was strong with a good work ethic, and never gave up."
Casella learned a valuable lesson in leadership in the early stages of that sophomore season. She felt like the team was in a funk and nothing was really clicking. The Deacs had lost two out of three, including a pair of conference losses to Maryland and North Carolina. She felt like Averill needed to be tougher on the team.
"Liza, that's what you need, but not all of your teammates operate the same way," she recalls Averill telling her. "If I put you all on the line, that works for you and maybe one-or-two of your teammates, but all of these other ones won't react the same way."
She walked away from that chat with a lesson in leadership that still resonates with her to this day.
"Thinking now about my team, everyone operates differently, whether personalities, style, how they were raised and their life experiences," Casella said. "You can't be homogenous in how you lead.
"Playing for Jen was a treat. She fueled the fire that I needed and challenged me in the way I needed, but she also taught me a lot of things that many coaches don't grasp."
Casella now serves as Senior Director for Business Development and Strategy at Casella Waste Systems, Inc., a business that was started by her father and uncle 50 years ago. She started with the company in 2011, just a little more than a year after finishing up at Wake Forest.
"It's been an incredible experience for me," Casella said. "I knew nothing about the business before I joined in. I didn't know how complicated this space was. I've been with the company for 10 years now and it's been really rewarding work."
Arriving at Wake Forest with a strong work ethic and a passion for success, Casella left with so much more under the tutelage of Averill and the incredible academic opportunities that she was afforded.
"As you continue through your career after Wake Forest, it becomes even more meaningful," Casella said. "You go through different stages. What I would have told you right out of college versus 10 years after college would have different flavors.
"For me looking back, I would say I got an incredible education and a great amount of exposure. I was surrounded by phenomenal teammates who pushed each other every single day. I still have incredible relationships from Wake Forest."
It was the holistic experience at Wake Forest that rewarded Casella.
"There was a lot to engage in across the campus, whether sports, academics or social life," she said. "I volunteered a lot and joined a sorority to meet different people. It's a community. That's the best part about Wake Forest — you get exposure to a lot of different things, and you can engage to the extent that you want to.
"But it's also small enough that you can see the meaning and see the importance of your relationships and the impact of your work. I find myself now reflecting a lot on my time there."
