Written by: Michael Rosen, Athletic Communications Intern
Sometimes people will stumble upon something that is just a perfect fit for them, and that is how Jenny Freud ’02 feels about her time playing with the State University of New York at New Paltz women’s lacrosse team.
“I chose New Paltz because of the welcoming feel it has,” Freud says. “It was very friendly, very diverse and very accepting, and those are some qualities I have in myself. New Paltz was just the perfect match for me in both my studies and my overall personality.”
Freud grew up in Stony Brook, N.Y., on Long Island and attended Ward Melville High School before coming to New Paltz. Lacrosse was very popular in Stony Brook while Freud was in elementary and junior high school. As a result, she started playing while in elementary school, but she really got into the sport while she was playing in junior high school.
Freud credits her father for being her biggest role model throughout her playing career.
“My father was very athletic and really encouraged me to be a student-athlete,” she says. “We practiced in the backyard and we’d go running together to get in shape during the preseason. He was my biggest fan.”
During her sophomore year at New Paltz, Freud and her teammate Melissa Butterweich each recorded 71 ground balls, a single-season record that the two still share today.
The lacrosse head coach at the time was Colleen Bruley, who is currently the head women’s soccer coach. Bruley noted Freud’s work ethic as well as the fact that she was very easy to work with.
“Jenn Freud was quiet, but an extremely hard worker,” Bruley says. “She was a great teammate and very coachable and was a very good student and lacrosse player. She led by example, and I know she is now doing great things with her career, and I am very proud of her.”
Freud credits Bruley for being a part of what made her time playing lacrosse so special.
“On the field, [Coach Bruley] was firm but fair,” she says. “Off the field she was compassionate, supportive and encouraging. The perfect coach. Having that camaraderie with a group of other women that you’re traveling eight hours on the bus to Buffalo or all the way home after a devastating loss was an amazing experience, and the lessons I got from it are invaluable.”
Freud was an attacker her first three years at New Paltz. Unfortunately, Freud decided to not play lacrosse during her senior year, as she didn’t see it as a top priority at the time. This is a decision that part of Freud regrets to this day.
“I was just really trying to set my sights on what happens after graduation,” Freud says. “It wasn’t even a decision I made until the season was getting ready to start. Just where I was in my life at the time, regretfully, lacrosse didn’t take priority. Sometimes I wish I would’ve played.”
After graduating from New Paltz, Freud attended Long Island University and received her master’s degree in Counseling. Freud currently works as a human resource business partner for a Fortune 500 company on Long Island.
Freud met her husband, Michael, at New Paltz around the end of her freshman year and beginning of her sophomore year. In October of 2015, Freud and her husband celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary.
Freud has very fond memories of her time at New Paltz and will make an effort to take a trip up to New Paltz from Long Island at least once a year. She credits both her educational and athletic experience at New Paltz in helping to shape her into the person she is today.
“I respected every single one of my professors,” Freud says. “They were all extremely intelligent but still approachable, and it was easy to ask questions when you didn’t understand something or ask for extra help if you needed it. I think being in an environment that fostered that desire to ask questions and to continue to learn and try new things is something that has helped me in both my career and the long run.”
