by By Dan Ninham
Two teammates from the Gowanda lacrosse team in New York signed to play collegiate lacrosse at the NCAA D1 level. Miya Scanlan will play at Jacksonville University. Scotia Snyder and her family made the decision to attend Coastal Carolina University.
Scotia Snyder, 18, lives on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in western New York State.
“I compete for my family and my ancestors that weren’t allowed to play and those who did,” said Scotia. “I’m a senior in high school.”
“I am part of the Seneca Nation and I am beaver clan,” added Scotia.
“I started competitively playing lacrosse outside of school since the fifth grade,” said Scotia. “Lacrosse is my passion and part of my culture so it stood out more to me when I played in school.”
Scotia’s main athletic achievement was winning MVP and Character Athlete of the Game in the Sectional Championship her sophomore year. Another achievement was making the varsity team in eighth grade at the private school Nichols School.
“Lacrosse in my culture is known as the medicine game,” said Scotia. “When playing with that tradition in a clear mind allows peripheral vision of the game. Most women are not supposed to play or even touch a stick. I naturally believe the lacrosse stick guided me to bigger places like playing and studying at the collegiate level, keeping tradition alive, and continuing growing the game.”
“My positive influencers who have pushed me to where I’m at would have to be my family members,” said Scotia. “My older cousins mastering their game at collegiate and pro level include Shayla Scanlan, Chase Scanlan, and Clay Scanlan. They have paved a way to prove the point. My younger cousin, teammate, and lefty teammate Miya Scanlan also influenced me to continue to follow that paved path with her by my side.
“Scotia has always showed compassion and always offers help to her fellow teammates,” said dad Scott Snyder. “Scotia has a big heart and always offers to help. She has the talent and smarts to excel in any sport she desires to play. She played soccer when she was six years old. I was her coach and she always offered assistance. She was a very good swimmer when she was eight years old. She achieved her yellow belt after two years of karate.”
“Scotia has played basketball for seven years for our team Native Thunder. She’s started varsity basketball at Nichols her freshman year. She is always offering help to improve,” added Scott.
Mom Marie Williams talked her daughter the athlete: “Scotia is somewhat of an only child. She is my only child. I had her at 34 years old and she was my miracle baby, as I didn’t know if I would be able to have children. When I got pregnant, everyone in our families were beyond ecstatic. Scotia had tons of attention! Birthdays and holidays she would have lots of presents. She was three years old and I remember watching her open her birthday presents but after about the third one she was done. I thought what’s wrong with my child? Most kids would tear through everything and look for more, but not her. As an only child and having older parents she received all our attention. That would have its pits and peeks.”
“Her dad has always been into sports especially basketball,” said Marie. “I was more ‘find your passion.’ At three, we had Scotia in soccer for a few years. There isn’t much for sports especially a girl at that age. She also did Mixed Martial Arts and learned several kata and weapon techniques, and dance, tap and ballet. That was more my doing. She hated it and we would fight constantly and I would bribe and beg her to finish it out. She hated the tights, they were too tight and itchy she’d say. We made it through a few recitals that seemed to always be on Father’s Day.”
“I would tell her once you start something you finish it, even if you don’t like it. She did gymnastics and swimming. She was a natural when it came to swimming. I would say it’s your athletic build or her native build, broad shoulders, no hips and long legs, why she was so good. But now she was around eight years old and she could play basketball and lacrosse and that was when she decided that lacrosse was her passion,” added Marie.
“We started all Seneca Girls travel teams and had the best times going to tournament and competing,” said Marie. “Scotia was one of the youngest girls on the teams. We would have to enter them in higher grades because we didn’t have enough girls on the Rez for grad year teams. Playing up helped her skills and confidence. Eventually we had to sign her up with Lady Roc, a travel team in Rochester, NY for her grad year.”
“Most recent and proud moment was at the last high school game,” said Marie. “They were playing in the Class D championship game against Eden. They beat them once in the regular season but knew it would be tough and the other coach knew what to do to counter them. Gowanda was down by seven goals at halftime and the one girl who Scotia would feed to was off and seemed like she gave up. Scotia came back in the second half and scored six goals in row and brought them to a one goal difference with seconds left on the clock to send them to over time.”
“She got the ball and passed it to another girl who wasn’t as skilled and she shot and missed. They lost. Her cousin ran over to her and said, ‘why didn’t you take that shot? You should have never passed to her.’ Scotia said, ‘because she was open and had a clear shot.’ Scotia is good, really good. But she’s the type of person that if someone fell she was racing she wouldn’t run by them to win. She would stop and pick them up and carry them to the finish line. And that’s what makes her an extraordinary person and player,” added Marie.
“When we met with Coach Kristen Selvage from Coastal Carolina, I asked her ‘why Scotia?’ said Marie. “She said ‘because she is smart and unselfish player and that’s what she is building her team around.’ At a recruiting camp we attended she noticed that in Scotia and after meeting her she knew she would do what she could to get Scotia.”
Kristen Selvage has a 48-31 career record and was named 2015 National Coach of the Year leading the team to the national championship game. Her coaching experience includes leading Lock Haven University to eight NCAA DII tournaments.
“During this pandemic I am currently doing full remote classes online,” said Scotia. “This is a mental challenge to adapt to that is crucial in college. I also have been trying to be self-disciplined to work out at home with social distance.”
Scotia reflected on one of her early highlight moments: “I was playing lacrosse with my two younger cousins in fifth grade and we were all on the same travel team from Rochester, NY. Rochester is two hours away from our reservation and we would go to practice Tuesday and Thursday’s. We were at the Battle at the Capital Tournament in Albany, NY. Cleats were a struggle for me when I was younger so I wore running sneakers. Our team made it to the championship game and the final score was a tie so there was a brave heart. This is where the coaches pick one player and goalie from each team and whomever scores first wins. My coach chose me and shocked me but I accepted the challenge. I ended up winning and the whole team came running on the field after the ball went in the net.”
“I will never forget that moment because I ended the tournament throwing my shoes out because of the holes I ran in them,” added Scotia. “We had a t-shirt with ‘Champions’ on it.”
Photo Credit: Gowanda Central Yearbook Staff
