Sept. 29, 2007

Many college seniors try to avoid thinking about life beyond college until it becomes absolutely necessary, usually when graduation is looming right around the corner. Senior men's soccer player Mark Price would be one exception to that trend, as he's had his eye on his future since he chose to attend Lafayette College nearly four years ago.

Price has used his years at Lafayette to take advantage of everything the school had to offer: a great education, extracurricular activities and, of course, the opportunity to play men's soccer at the Division I level.

The Dublin, Ohio native was a highly-recruited high school soccer player and knew he wanted to attend a Division I school for several reasons. Not only did Price want to continue playing soccer, but more importantly he wanted to obtain a top-level education, one that would provide him the tools needed to pursue a career in the finance world.

"I had always thought finance might be something I wanted to get into and Lafayette's location between New York City and Philadelphia was really good," he said. "There are a lot of alumni in this area that work in the city so I knew there were good connections here. I just didn't think I'd be able to get the same education at a big university that I've gotten here at Lafayette."

Upon arriving at Lafayette, Price gradually became in other activities on top of soccer and academics. Two of Price's friends, Barie and Tracy Salmon, founded the Student Movement Against Cancer club and encouraged Price and several of his teammates to join. A former soccer player, Ben Abrams, is the vice president and also asked Price and his teammates to become involved. Price, along with teammates Scott Hawkins, Anthony Sepe, Luke Sullivan, and Chad Barbieri, did join and it's now become another way the team socializes off the field. The club has held numerous activities during Price's involvement, including last year's "Relay for Life" fundraiser.

Price continued to keep his eye on the future, however, and this past summer gained an internship with Morgan Stanley in Purchase, N.Y. He had the opportunity to work in the global wealth management group, specifically in sales and trading.

"It was a great experience because it exposed me to finance right away and how fast paced the world is," he said. "We had three monitors as opposed to one which was something that took a while to get used to. Right away we had quizzes and debates and sales pitches in front of management about products we had just learned about. It was very intimidating but it was a great learning experience."

Always aware of maintaining connections within the business world, Price will actually return to Morgan Stanley for a few weeks this coming January.

"Finance is definitely an area I might want to pursue and in January I think I'll ultimately find out if that's what I want to do," he said.

His natural ability to rise to the demands and pressures around him has translated into a successful soccer career at Lafayette. He has started 36 games and scored 12 career goals. Despite being hampered by injury this season, the two year starting forward has still seen action in seven of the team's first eight games and is looking to cap his Lafayette playing career with a strong senior season.

His high level of maturity impacts his play on the field as well as his teammates. As one of six seniors, he knows it is his job to lead the team, even without the official title of captain.

"I'm more of a silent leader; I try to lead by example," he said. "I try to be as consistent as possible and set a good example by my play, listening to what the coaches say and doing the right things on and off the field. I also try to be there for the guys academically and help them out with career paths, as well."

While it seems that Price's path has been smooth and without a bump in the road, looks are deceiving. A little over a year ago, just before the start of his junior season, Price's father and "his biggest fan" passed away. Now, a year later, Price is still coping with the death; however, his determination to succeed hasn't wavered. In fact, it's only grown.

"It's definitely been hard because he was my number one fan but I've just been trying to make him proud every day both on the field and off the field," he said. "I guess it's added a little more pressure but it's also been a little bit of a good thing because I want to do well in the classroom as well as on the field. Now I'm sort of the man of household and I call home almost every day to see how things are going. It's definitely brought our family closer together."

Soccer has certainly helped Price through the difficult and stressful times, in part because many of the lessons he has learned from head coach Dennis Bohn translate beyond soccer.

"Coach Bohn's big piece of advice this year has been to concentrate on one game at a time, to focus on today and the things you can control as opposed to the things you can't," Price said. "I have a lot of things I need to be doing, especially with the job search, so I've been trying to take things one day at a time."

While Price appears older than his age suggests, there are indeed a few reminders that he is, in fact, a college student who has not lost sight of the importance of simply having fun.

When asked if he or the team had any pregame superstitions, he replied with a laugh, saying, "there are, but none I can talk about on tape."