ELON, N.C. – Four years after first stepping foot on Elon's campus, senior defender Katie Lowe is not ready to say goodbye just yet.

A member of the 2024 graduating cohort, Lowe is part of the last class for Elon women's soccer that is able to apply for a fifth year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lowe, who was not yet ready for her career to come to an end, jumped at the chance to come back to Elon for one more year.

When deciding where to attend college, Lowe did not know what to expect from Elon prior to arriving on campus. She was unsure if she wanted to attend a smaller school or a bigger school, and settled on Elon as a middle ground in terms of campus size. Four years later, she is thrilled with her decision.

"It has been more than I could have imagined," Lowe said. "I've had such a good time here. I've done a lot more on the team than I thought I would be able to do. I've grown a lot as a person."

During her time at Elon, Lowe has been a staple for the Phoenix defense. During the spring 2021 season, she started all 10 of Elon's matches and helped the Phoenix to its first CAA championship title in program history. She was also named to the 2020-21 CAA All-Rookie Team. 

"We just had a really good group of girls that were really determined that year," Lowe said. "We played teams that we had lost to significantly, and I think we just kind of went into those games like, 'We have nothing to lose, we have nothing on the line really,' and I think that really helped us to win our games."

As a sophomore, she helped fortify the backline that helped Elon to six shutouts on the season. As a junior, Lowe led the team in total minutes played with 1,460, and in her senior season, Lowe took on a role as one of the team's captains.
 

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When the 2023 season came to an end at Rudd Field this fall, the rest of Lowe's class wrapped up their playing days at Elon. However, this past season left Lowe with a sour taste in her mouth, which is part of the reason she wanted to come back.

"It was a rough [season] for me," Lowe said. "Lots of ups and downs. I think we were a very young team and that played a little bit into it. It was a building year for us, so hopefully, the spring and next year for us will be better."

When Lowe returns to the field for the Phoenix for their spring season, she will do it for the first time in her career without her fellow seniors – Emilia Cappellett, Isabelle Paradoski, McKenna Dalfonso and Kerri Coffman, something she believes will be a very different experience.

"Playing with them has been awesome," Lowe said. "I've gotten super close with them over the years, especially being roommates with them and everything. Just seeing how they've grown as players from freshman year has been really special, and it's definitely going to be hard without them next year."
 
During her time at Elon, Lowe, an exercise science major, got involved with doing undergraduate research, something that she has found extremely valuable and rewarding, and a major part of her Elon experience.

"My research looks at stress factors in menstrual cycle symptoms in women, and specifically female athletes and they affect their performance," Lowe said. "I thought it was something that would be cool to look into, in terms of how it affects our performance."

During her fifth year at Elon, Lowe intends to take courses that will help her get into medical school. That, in addition to the women's soccer program, were the two main factors that went into Lowe's decision to return for a fifth year.

"I just think this program is pretty special," Lowe said. "I really like the coaches, and I think that we have continued to grow every single year since I've been here. I'm looking to hopefully end on another championship like I started with. And then academically, they just had what I was looking for."

Women's soccer head coach Neil Payne was ecstatic when he found out Lowe was coming back to the program for one more season.

"We're so excited to have Katie return next season, as she will bring a wealth of experience that our younger players will benefit from," Payne said. "Katie will add a huge amount of stability to our backline and she is determined to leave a successful and lasting legacy on our program."

Looking ahead to next season, Lowe thinks the team has a lot of untapped potential that is waiting to be unleashed.

Katie Lowe scores her 1st goal of the season! ??#FloodTheRudd | #PhoenixRising pic.twitter.com/lVdaeZIAy6

— Elon Women's Soccer (@ElonWSoccer) September 29, 2023

"We have a lot that we can accomplish next year," Lowe said. "This year showed us that we have a lot of potential in the freshmen and the sophomores and that's something that we can build on."

Individually, Lowe hopes to end her already successful Elon career on a positive note.

"I feel like I was a little inconsistent this year," Lowe said. "I think I have a lot more to give. I'm hoping to have a pretty big impact on the team in a lot of different ways."
 

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'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.

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