Drew University Athletics

Nearly a decade after Kara (Fetter) Carola '04 graduated from Drew University, the Rangers' field hockey and women's lacrosse standout still serves as a gold standard of what it means to be a Division III student-athlete. Carola's statistics speak loudly on what kind of player she was on the field, and the fact that she graduated Magna Cum Laude and with four All-America honors in two separate sports make her a shining example for generations of current and future Rangers. She played 81 games for head coaches Maureen Horan-Pease and Kelly Ford in field hockey and 76 games for head coach Kim Christos in women's lacrosse.
 
At the time of her Hall of Fame induction, Carola still held the Drew women's lacrosse record for career goals with 271 and is second all-time in career points with 357, only three behind Karen Townsend's school record. Instead of participating in a typical offseason in the fall, Carola was busy excelling for the Drew field hockey team. Her 141 career points (53 goals, 35 assists) ranked fourth in the Rangers record book. Overall, her outstanding athletic ability led her two programs to a combined 107-54 record and five conference championships during her time in Madison.
 
By the time lacrosse season rolled around in the spring of 2001, the MAC already knew her name well. Carola was named the 2000 MAC Freedom Conference Field Hockey Rookie of the Year after scoring five goals and two assists during her rookie campaign. She followed that up in the spring with another Rookie of the Year accolade, this one honoring a 61-goal campaign for the women's lacrosse squad. The year 2001 was also the first of seven consecutive First Team All-Conference awards, seven straight All-ECAC honors, and four IWLCA Regional All-America selections in a row.
 
By 2002, Carola had already entered the national discussion. Her 63 goals and 14 assists for women's lacrosse garnered her first National All-America selection. The following fall, Carola became a two-sport All-American when the NFHCA named her to the National All-America Second Team after she scored 19 goals and recorded eight assists for the Rangers' field hockey team. She would graduate a four-time All-American after making the women's lacrosse Second Team in 2003 and the Third Team in 2004. Carola added to her honors with MAC Player of the Year nods in field hockey for the 2002 and 2003 season, and a MAC Player of the Year award in women's lacrosse after the 2004 campaign.
 
Carola's phenomenal two-sport career came to an end in 2004, but not before receiving one of the top honors in collegiate women's lacrosse. The WLCSJ named her the 2004 College Division III Offensive Player of the Year after she scored 76 goals – a school record that stood for nine years and wasn’t’ broken until 2013 – and added 31 assists for 107 total points, a mark that ranked fourth all-time for a single season at Drew.
 
The essence of a college student-athlete is adhering to both aspects of that title. Carola is one of the most decorated athletes in Drew history, but her work in the classroom was just as successful. In 2003, she was named the NJAIAW Woman of the Year and the New Jersey Division III Student-Athlete of the Year. Across both of her sports, she made the MAC All-Academic Team six times, and was a member of the 2001 NFHCA National Academic Squad. Carola carried that sharp academic focus to graduate school, where she earned a Masters of Arts in mental health counseling and applied psychology from Rowan University with a 3.92 GPA.