Last Tuesday St. Francis beat CCSU 46-43 in the NEC tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Red Flash had losing seasons each of the past 4 years but won each of their final 6 games to claim the school’s 1st NCAA tourney bid since 1991. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with St. Francis cheerleader Lizzy Frank about the historic win earlier this week and making the NCAA tourney.
You are from Altoona, PA: what was it like to be a high school cheerleader during COVID? It took a toll on my senior year, and my team was not allowed to cheer at a lot of our games. It was not fun, but I made sure to cheer at every opportunity I could.
What made you choose St. Francis? I waited a long time to apply to any schools. St. Francis is a good school and is close to home, so after I got accepted I decided to go there.
You are pursuing a degree in marketing with a concentration on digital media: how did you choose those subjects? I was originally a psychology major but quickly decided that marketing would be the best way for me to connect with the fashion industry.
You are a senior: do you have a post-graduation plan yet? I wish I did! I have been working at an internship all year and have not looked anywhere else. My dream job would be to go to a big city and become a marketing executive at a high-end fashion brand.
How did you 1st get into cheering, and what is the best part? I 1st started cheering for my school’s flag football team during elementary school, and I was 1 of those kids whose parents always put me in Penn State/Steeler uniforms. The best part is just cheering for the team on game day.
Your team was 10-17 in mid-February: what was the mood like inside DeGol Arena last month, and how has it changed since then? St. Francis does a great job of keeping the energy positive: our band acts as another student section and has a great vibe. It is a very big deal to see how far the team has come, but we have not lost any speed in terms of our encouragement/support.
Last Tuesday in the NEC tourney title game your team had a 3-PT win at CCSU: what was the reaction like after the final buzzer went off, and how excited is everyone on campus this week? We all hugged each other and started jumping up and down. The band was going crazy, and it was fun to see the team cut down the nets. It was cool to see everyone on campus come together considering we are such a small school.
How does your school decide who gets to go to the NCAA tourney, and what will it mean to you to see your group doing its thing in front of a national TV audience? We are only allowed to have 12 people combined between cheer/dance. I am a senior and a captain, so I will be going with our 2 other captains. Attendance at games and passion for the team are also important. I am a little nervous for us to receive all this national attention, but we are a good team so we deserve it.
Does your squad have anything extra-special planned for next week? We will just go out and do what we have been doing all year…but we will be much more excited for it.
Any predictions for next week? I am kind of a bad cheerleader so I only keep up with our team, but I have a strong hope/desire for us to win…and I think that we will do it!
