{"id":13325,"date":"2025-09-15T14:38:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T18:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13325"},"modified":"2025-09-23T11:21:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T15:21:29","slug":"how-i-got-here-abby-najdzinowicz-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13325","title":{"rendered":"How I Got Here Abby Najdzinowicz \u201926"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been playing since I was 3 years old, and I honestly love it so much. Both my parents played \u2014 my dad played for TCNJ, and my mom played through high school. They passed their love of the game down to my brother and me.<\/span><\/p>\n

My parents have been my biggest supporters and have always said, \u201cIf you\u2019re not having fun, it\u2019s okay not to do it.\u201d And that support, without too much pressure, allowed me to keep enjoying the sport.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a center midfielder. It\u2019s the position that connects the defensive line to the front line. So I am at midfield, and I take responsibility to move the ball forward or to get the whole team back. I have to listen to the people around me and communicate. It\u2019s kind of like being the heart of the team.<\/span><\/p>\n

What gives me the most joy is the feeling that I get when I do something good for the <\/span>team, whether it\u2019s poking the ball out from underneath an opposing player, winning <\/span>a head ball, or even just cheering my teammates on.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was named captain for this year, and it is the biggest honor. The legacy and tradition of TCNJ women\u2019s soccer is unmatched. I transferred to TCNJ after my sophomore season. And at my end-of-the-year meeting last year, the coaches said, \u201cIt felt like you\u2019ve been here since the beginning.\u201d That was the best compliment I could have ever gotten.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jason
Jason ’96, Abby’26, Sean ’29 Najdzinowicz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My dad, Jason Najdzinowicz \u201996, is part of the TCNJ soccer tradition. He was a <\/span>four-year starter on the Trenton State men\u2019s team from 1992\u201395. They made the NCAA Tournament all four years.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have always had a strong bond with my dad. He was the one who drove me to practices. He\u2019d drive two hours to watch me play. But once I started at TCNJ, that connection grew even stronger.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I decided to transfer to TCNJ, my dad was very nonchalant, but my mom told me, \u201cHe\u2019s over the moon about this. He just doesn\u2019t want to show it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now my brother, Sean \u201929, plays for the men\u2019s team. He\u2019s a freshman goalkeeper. So TCNJ soccer is a big family affair for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

My hope and expectation for this season is to lead the women\u2019s team to a national championship. I feel we have the right team to do it. Our strength is our grit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos: Michelle Gustafson<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For this year\u2019s team captain, soccer is a kick off the old block.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":13330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lions-roar"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13325"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13382,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13325\/revisions\/13382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}