Caroline Twyman, a left midfielder/forward for the Bishop’s soccer team, has overcome personal doubts to achieve in three sports, as well as academics at the rigorous private school.

“Something I’ve had to tell myself a lot lately is, if I wasn’t meant to be here, I wouldn’t have been given the opportunity,” confides the 5-foot, 8-inch offensive player for second-year coach Yuki Zeigler’s team, who doubles up in the spring for the Knights to play defense in lacrosse and run the 200-meter and 4×100 relay in track.

“I listen to a lot of political commentary,” says the 17-year-old senior, who plans to pursue studies in political science at Yale next fall. She is one of five seniors on the soccer squad. “I listened to a podcast on upwards comparison, the tendency for humans to compare ourselves to those above us, instead of below us. So, we’re always feeling behind.

“So, I took from the podcast that everything is relative. That has helped me a lot in dealing with doubt.”

Zeigler, who previously served as an assistant in the Knights program for four years, is a big advocate for her seniors: Twyman; Julia Chen, a center back/outside back; Lila Browne, a midfielder/forward; Christie Linnard, a left/center back; and goalkeeper Kasey Harvey.

“We haven’t had a great season thus far, but I’ve got some very smart, dedicated kids that will make a difference in this world,” says Zeigler, who emphasizes positivity among her players.

“We want everyone to be encouraging. If someone makes a mistake, we’re going to build them up. We aren’t going to stop passing them the ball. We still trust them.” 

Chen, who also plays club soccer, says she has grown while serving as a team captain in her junior and senior years: “I have had to learn how to deal with teammates of all ages. I am outgoing. As a leader, I don’t want to make enemies, but if two teammates are having trouble, sometimes I have to address it.”

Nicknamed “Juju” by her soccer teammates, Chen is working in an internship at UCSD in computational neuroscience. Two older siblings, Skye and Jonathan, work in computation. She has been accepted to MIT, a Division 3 school, to play soccer. 

Browne, who also stars in field hockey for the Lady Knights, says of her fellow seniors, “We’ve basically played together throughout high school. We’ve grown together. I always look forward to winter sports season.”

The 5-foot, 4-inch three-sport athlete plans to play field hockey at Dartmouth next year. In soccer, she sees the blossoming of teammate Gabby Scott, a junior. “Even though she’s been a starter for three years, I’ve seen Gabby grow in confidence to the point [where] she is a force to deal with on the field.” 

Linnard, a sprinter for the Knights track team, plans to study oceanography or quantitative economics at the U.S. Naval Academy. “My main dream is to be a jet fighter pilot flying an F35 Lightning II,” the extroverted senior says. “Then I would like to be a flight surgeon.”

Harvey, the team’s goalie, was accepted to Boston University. At midseason, she was out with mononucleosis and unable to participate in practice.