University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Legacy Left; Amanda Dailor
04.08.2015 | Women's Soccer
Leave A Legacy. It is on shirts, recruiting information, and is the tag line most often used by the women's soccer program at UNC Asheville. Amanda Dailor, head coach Michelle Demko's first recruit after taking over the program, did just that.
An athlete's senior year is the last chance to leave their mark, whether they've been a four year contributor or their number is being called for the first time. Dailor, a contributor to the UNC Asheville midfield since day one, seized that opportunity, saving her best for last.
Entering her final campaign, Dailor had amassed 19 points (7 goals, 5 assists), while playing in every game over her first three seasons. For her last act, Dailor tallied 20 points in the 2014 season on 5 goals, and breaking the school's single-season assist record with a league-best 10 assists. Her exploits on the playing field earned her First-Team All-Big South Conference honors.
Seizing the opportunity to “leave a legacy” was not lost upon Amanda, “it really did not hit me at first, but I think that it is super exciting to say that I left something at the school to remember me by.” However, she does realize that when you leave a legacy and are building a program that records will be broken, stating, “I am sure that it will be broken soon by future Bulldogs, which is awesome.”
The nature of the assist, is that is only one part of the final product, someone still has to be on the other end of the pass and finish the job. “I had to have someone on the other end to finish that and that takes incredible talent and hard work,” stated Dailor. She continued giving credit to her teammates who completed the task, “this year, we had so many hard working, talented players out there and our group of freshman that came in were awesome and it really brought it all together for us.”
Just as on the field, Dailor wants to hand out more assists as she moves on beyond graduation on May 9th. Ready to receive her degree in Health and Wellness Promotion, she plans on going to grad school and would eventually like to become an Occupational Therapist.
During her time at UNC Asheville, Amanda had the opportunity to do an internship with Carolina Pediatric Therapy and thoroughly enjoyed what she did. “It is basically play time for the kids, but it is really important things that you do not realize that you need in your daily life.” She looks at it as something that she can have fun with while also being creative and helping people.
In the meantime, she would like to have the opportunity to take a graduate assistantship wherever she attends grad school. “It would be cool to help the student-athletes and see things from the coaching side as opposed to as a player.” In other words, she would like to assist them with their playing careers.
Amanda Dailor's time at UNC Asheville didn't always net the greatest results, just 15 wins in her first three seasons before winning 10 games in her final season and making a return trip to the conference tournament for the first time since her freshman season. She is understanding of the process that is taking place with the women's soccer program. “I think that the program is only going to go up from here,” going on to speak about the accolades bestowed upon a couple of her teammates. “I think it was a good start for them and I was glad to be part of that and help build that foundation and leave that legacy. I believe that it will carry on from here and only get better.”
