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Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
(article posted by Claire Norfleet, Student Sports Information Assistant)

Apr. 21, 2015 - With the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of traveling across the world, North Central College junior women's lacrosse student-athlete Gina Fisher chose to take advantage of the College's Study Abroad Program and make her first journey out of the United States to Greece in fall 2014.
           
"After gaining a lot of information on the program, I realized it would be the perfect fit," said Fisher. "The culture and history of Greece was way too intriguing to pass up."
           
While Greece was the primary location of the program, Fisher was able to visit the local cities of Santorini and Athens, while making trips to other major European cities nearby, such as London, Barcelona, Florence, Venice, Rome and Amsterdam. Traveling to such historic sites throughout her time abroad made for a memorable experience."Trying all of the food in different cultures was definitely a highlight of my trip as well!" added Fisher.
           
Although the trip meant missing out on lacrosse practices during the fall, the midfielder out of St. Louis, Missouri has managed to continue her success right where she left off. The Cardinals' career leader in assists, ground balls, draw controls and caused turnovers recently won her third College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Offensive Player of the Week honor of the 2015 season.
           
Having an older sister with collegiate success as a top defender on the Ohio Wesleyan University women's lacrosse team strongly influenced Fisher's decision to learn about the game during a seventh-grade summer camp at Ursuline Academy in St. Louis, where she later attended high school.
           
"Having an older sister to compete with and help make me stronger and faster was always something I felt so fortunate to have," she said. "She is so knowledgeable about the game so her constructive criticism really helped improve my playing."
           
Fisher's interest in the game started to grow after joining a summer league team before the start of her high school career at Ursuline Academy, where she was coached by Judy Anderson. "She taught me the fundamentals of the game and taught me how to be a better person on and off the field," said Fisher. "Her passion for the game along with her incredible coaching tactics helped lead my team to consecutive State Championship appearances."
           
The marketing and management major has plans to combine her academics and overall knowledge of athletics to pursue a career within the sports marketing field.

Approaching the end of the program's seventh season, Fisher and the Cardinals have been able to excel despite some injury problems, putting together a school-record eight-game winning streak midway through the season.
           
"If we continue to work as a team and stay healthy, I have no doubt that we will make it to the conference tournament," she said.

North Central closes out the regular season at home against CCIW rival Augustana College on Saturday at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. The inaugural CCIW Tournament begins Wednesday, Apr. 29.