SE: Hall’s Career Comes Full Circle as Senior Continues Big Impact for K-State Soccer
Sep 20, 2019 | Soccer, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Small, but fearless. Energetic, but focused. Stubborn, but selfless.
K-State soccer senior Laramie Hall epitomizes these paradoxes. The combination of them brought the 5-foot-3 Hall to this point, a full-circle type feeling.
Hall, a forward-turned-defender the past two seasons, returned to forward last week. Already, she leads K-State (2-4-2) this season in points (7) and is tied for first in goals (3) heading into her team's home match against No. 7 BYU on Saturday at 7 pm.
"It's funny knowing I started there and we're now, like, 'Alright, and we're going to end there, too,'" Hall said. "It definitely feels full circle."
Throughout Hall's orbital return to K-State's frontline, senior forward Katie Cramer has picked up on a few of Hall's standout traits. Among them, stubborn determination.
"When she puts her mind to something, it's like nobody can stop her. And that goes for anything she does in life," Cramer said. "If she really wants something, she's going to go get it and she's going to drag other people with her. You can't tell her no.
"She always says, 'Katie, please go do this with me. I don't ask for much,'" Cramer added, laughing. "She says that every time."
Still, Hall's persistence to get what she wants in some areas is blanketed by her desire to do what's best for the team.
"It's always about the team; it's never about herself. It's how can we do better," Cramer said. "She's always thinking of new ways to impact us, whether that's a pep talk before practice or a game, writing notes, just anything. She's just very intentional about being a good leader."
And a good friend.
Throughout their K-State careers together, Cramer and Hall have shared many classes. One last spring, an eight-credit hour anatomy and physiology class, stands out among the rest, Cramer said. The lab for that class fell right after what Cramer described as K-State strength and conditioning coach Danny Cavender's "close-to-death workouts."
Hall helped make the grind enjoyable.
"We were so miserable together but also having the time of our lives. We were intentional every day with getting to know each other, even though we were already best friends," Cramer said. "She'd stress about getting a parking spot, while I'd usually be laughing at her stressing so much. We took lots of pictures, studied for hours on end, and challenged each other in every way possible.
"She helped me through the sudden death of my grandmother that semester. Since then, our friendship has always been rock solid. Being a captain with her this year has been so fun and something I will never ever forget. I think you could ask anyone on this team about Laramie and each and every one of us would have something fun and impactful to say about her. She's an incredible player and teammate who carries such high character every single day."
Her willingness to change positions again, after two years of starting as a defender, showed this.
While somewhat necessary with injuries piling up on K-State's frontline, K-State head coach Mike Dibbini called the move a "risk," because of what Hall has meant to K-State's backline. But the gamble paid off, because of Hall's selflessness and determination.
Hall created and assisted a game-tying goal in the 85th minute against Gonzaga last week. With four seconds left in regulation, she won a cross in the air and headed the ball into the back of the net to knot the game up at 2-2. She also scored a goal in K-State's 2-0 win against Tulsa last Sunday.
"It's her senior year. She just wants to do whatever she can to help this team be successful," Dibbini said. "She brings that will up top that is much needed at this level."
Hall's explanation of her success mirrored Dibbini's. It's less about any technical breakthrough and more about her focus on the task at hand.
"I think the biggest thing that I have now that I didn't (as a freshman) is, honestly, the end in sight. Now, it's not, 'There will be another year, I'm going to work as hard as I can,'" she said. "There's a lot more internal pressure, and not a bad pressure, but just a pressure of, 'Hey, let's go out there and let's go hard,' because, one, I'm a senior and, two, you never know when people are going to go down.
"We've had a lot of girls get injured, so I've been thinking about them and counting it as a blessing every time that I get to go out there. It's a blessing that I get to work hard. It's a blessing to get to chase girls down. I think that's the biggest difference, really being thankful for every opportunity."
These are not just thoughts inside Hall's busy head, either.
"She just sees it as she gets to do that every day," Cramer said. "She shows up to practice, like, 'I get to play up top.' It's just a mindset for her."
Hall's style of play follows that mindset.
An instinctive player, she makes up for what she lacks in technical skills with effort and feel. Her assist against Gonzaga illustrated this perfectly. She knew she was the deepest Wildcat up the field, and she knew she could outwork the defender on her. So, she flipped it to herself, won the foot race to the ball and dished it to Christina Baxter for an easy goal.
"Honestly, the biggest thing I was thinking about after (that match) was just hard work. I love this quote that my first club coach ever, Austin Risenhoover, told me: 'Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard,'" Hall said, an Oklahoman citing a quote made famous by former Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant. "There might be some person who's the best girl in her league, defensive player of the year, but that doesn't mean anything if I can work harder and be better."
As for her size, it's also not an issue. Honestly, she said it's gotten to the point where it's hardly even motivation. She rarely thinks about it anymore. Her teammates don't either.
"She's not scared. There could be a girl towering over her, but she's not scared to push and shove and fight," Cramer said. "If we're one-on-one against each other, I'm scared of her. She's going to come hard and it doesn't matter how small she is. She's going to come at you hard and she's going to show that she's just as strong as you are."
Small, but fearless. Energetic, but focused. Stubborn, but selfless.
K-State soccer senior Laramie Hall epitomizes these paradoxes. The combination of them brought the 5-foot-3 Hall to this point, a full-circle type feeling.
Hall, a forward-turned-defender the past two seasons, returned to forward last week. Already, she leads K-State (2-4-2) this season in points (7) and is tied for first in goals (3) heading into her team's home match against No. 7 BYU on Saturday at 7 pm.
"It's funny knowing I started there and we're now, like, 'Alright, and we're going to end there, too,'" Hall said. "It definitely feels full circle."
Throughout Hall's orbital return to K-State's frontline, senior forward Katie Cramer has picked up on a few of Hall's standout traits. Among them, stubborn determination.
"When she puts her mind to something, it's like nobody can stop her. And that goes for anything she does in life," Cramer said. "If she really wants something, she's going to go get it and she's going to drag other people with her. You can't tell her no.
"She always says, 'Katie, please go do this with me. I don't ask for much,'" Cramer added, laughing. "She says that every time."
Still, Hall's persistence to get what she wants in some areas is blanketed by her desire to do what's best for the team.
"It's always about the team; it's never about herself. It's how can we do better," Cramer said. "She's always thinking of new ways to impact us, whether that's a pep talk before practice or a game, writing notes, just anything. She's just very intentional about being a good leader."
And a good friend.
Throughout their K-State careers together, Cramer and Hall have shared many classes. One last spring, an eight-credit hour anatomy and physiology class, stands out among the rest, Cramer said. The lab for that class fell right after what Cramer described as K-State strength and conditioning coach Danny Cavender's "close-to-death workouts."
Hall helped make the grind enjoyable.
"We were so miserable together but also having the time of our lives. We were intentional every day with getting to know each other, even though we were already best friends," Cramer said. "She'd stress about getting a parking spot, while I'd usually be laughing at her stressing so much. We took lots of pictures, studied for hours on end, and challenged each other in every way possible.
"She helped me through the sudden death of my grandmother that semester. Since then, our friendship has always been rock solid. Being a captain with her this year has been so fun and something I will never ever forget. I think you could ask anyone on this team about Laramie and each and every one of us would have something fun and impactful to say about her. She's an incredible player and teammate who carries such high character every single day."
Her willingness to change positions again, after two years of starting as a defender, showed this.
While somewhat necessary with injuries piling up on K-State's frontline, K-State head coach Mike Dibbini called the move a "risk," because of what Hall has meant to K-State's backline. But the gamble paid off, because of Hall's selflessness and determination.
Hall created and assisted a game-tying goal in the 85th minute against Gonzaga last week. With four seconds left in regulation, she won a cross in the air and headed the ball into the back of the net to knot the game up at 2-2. She also scored a goal in K-State's 2-0 win against Tulsa last Sunday.
"It's her senior year. She just wants to do whatever she can to help this team be successful," Dibbini said. "She brings that will up top that is much needed at this level."
Hall's explanation of her success mirrored Dibbini's. It's less about any technical breakthrough and more about her focus on the task at hand.
"I think the biggest thing that I have now that I didn't (as a freshman) is, honestly, the end in sight. Now, it's not, 'There will be another year, I'm going to work as hard as I can,'" she said. "There's a lot more internal pressure, and not a bad pressure, but just a pressure of, 'Hey, let's go out there and let's go hard,' because, one, I'm a senior and, two, you never know when people are going to go down.
"We've had a lot of girls get injured, so I've been thinking about them and counting it as a blessing every time that I get to go out there. It's a blessing that I get to work hard. It's a blessing to get to chase girls down. I think that's the biggest difference, really being thankful for every opportunity."
These are not just thoughts inside Hall's busy head, either.
"She just sees it as she gets to do that every day," Cramer said. "She shows up to practice, like, 'I get to play up top.' It's just a mindset for her."
Hall's style of play follows that mindset.
An instinctive player, she makes up for what she lacks in technical skills with effort and feel. Her assist against Gonzaga illustrated this perfectly. She knew she was the deepest Wildcat up the field, and she knew she could outwork the defender on her. So, she flipped it to herself, won the foot race to the ball and dished it to Christina Baxter for an easy goal.
"Honestly, the biggest thing I was thinking about after (that match) was just hard work. I love this quote that my first club coach ever, Austin Risenhoover, told me: 'Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard,'" Hall said, an Oklahoman citing a quote made famous by former Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant. "There might be some person who's the best girl in her league, defensive player of the year, but that doesn't mean anything if I can work harder and be better."
As for her size, it's also not an issue. Honestly, she said it's gotten to the point where it's hardly even motivation. She rarely thinks about it anymore. Her teammates don't either.
"She's not scared. There could be a girl towering over her, but she's not scared to push and shove and fight," Cramer said. "If we're one-on-one against each other, I'm scared of her. She's going to come hard and it doesn't matter how small she is. She's going to come at you hard and she's going to show that she's just as strong as you are."
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