{"id":13724,"date":"2026-10-29T02:10:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T06:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13724"},"modified":"2026-11-09T15:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T20:22:20","slug":"how-i-got-here-christopher-meder-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=13724","title":{"rendered":"How I Got Here Christopher Meder \u201927"},"content":{"rendered":"

My time at TCNJ has gone by <\/span>superfast. I am excited for my last run <\/span>at soccer. I want to make the most out <\/span>of this season.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a forward. My main job is to <\/span>create chances, meaning scoring goals <\/span>or providing assists. And if our team <\/span>doesn\u2019t have the ball, my job is to be <\/span>the first line of defense against the <\/span>other team.<\/span><\/p>\n

I love taking defenders on, one <\/span>on one, toward the goal. That\u2019s the <\/span>exciting part of soccer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The TCNJ team is really close-<\/span>knit. Our coach, Steve DeMatteo, has <\/span>emphasized the importance of a good <\/span>culture. Hard work and talent can take <\/span>you far, but having a team that enjoys <\/span>being around each other can give you <\/span>the extra push you need.<\/span><\/p>\n

He also has high standards. They\u2019re <\/span>really tough, but they push us to be <\/span>better in the end.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re constantly training at a super-<\/span>high level. That kind of preparation <\/span>helps make the big-time moments in <\/span>games feel a little less intense.<\/span><\/p>\n

The NJAC is such a strong conf<\/span>erence. That was why I wanted to play <\/span>for TCNJ.<\/span><\/p>\n

The semifinal game in the NJAC <\/span>championships last year was the <\/span>best game that I\u2019ve played at TCNJ <\/span>so far. I had four goals that game. We <\/span>beat Montclair State, and they were <\/span>ranked No. 22 in the country. We went <\/span>on to play Rowan University in the <\/span>conference final after that.<\/span><\/p>\n

My dad played soccer at Rowan. <\/span>We play them every year, so he <\/span>and I have made a little rivalry of it. <\/span>He\u2019s definitely proud of having <\/span>played there, but I think he roots <\/span>for TCNJ now.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having been a soccer player will <\/span>definitely help me in the business <\/span>world. Financial advisors have a team <\/span>that they work with to help clients in <\/span>various ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

I want to be in a client-facing <\/span>role and be involved in wealth <\/span>management. I have some experience <\/span>in that through a summer internship <\/span>I had at Fidelity Investments.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m graduating in December. <\/span>I want to make sure I am balancing <\/span>academics and athletics and that I am <\/span>being present and in the moment. And <\/span>just giving it my absolute best.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 As told to Kara Pothier<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a captain of the men\u2019s soccer team, this finance major just keeps moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":13757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13724","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\/13724","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=13724"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13827,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13724\/revisions\/13827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}