Former NCAA woman of the year Karenna Groff and family members were among the six people killed when their twin-engine plane crashed Saturday in Columbia County.
Groff, who played soccer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is being remembered as someone who excelled on and off the field. The 25-year-old who graduated in 2022 studied biological engineering. She was also the co-founder of a 2020 project that developed and manufactured facemasks during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WAMC’s Lucas Willard spoke with MIT Head Women’s Soccer Coach Martin Desmarais about Groff’s impact at the private institution.
It does happen, and certainly at MIT, we have players that do both. But a lot of times, you know, you might have a player who's a star soccer on the field. and like. they might also win some of the academic athlete, student athlete awards. And it does overlap, but it doesn't always overlap to the extent of you know, your best player is also your best kind of student athlete in many ways, too. And so. I think that's part of what, when I say the face of women's soccer during her time, and that's part of it. You know, it's like she's, she's scoring the goals and winning the games, and she's also getting the academic level recognition. And so, you know, again, that ultimately led her to be an All-American right on the soccer field, and that's purely soccer talent, but also academic, All-American several times, you know, which is combining her soccer talent with what she's doing in the classroom and what she's doing with research, and in her case, you know, abroad, with some stuff in hospitals and other countries, and working in hospitals in Boston. And so, I think you know that's part of it, like, for a place like MIT, you know, that's really what our mission is, is to have a true student athlete, you know, where we're, you know, we really appreciate and we're looking for student athletes to come in that want to excel in both of those areas. And it's hard to…we've had some amazing ones for sure. But you know, Karenna is right up there with them all, because she was so strong in both of those areas and, of course, you know, going on to then be recognized as the NCAA Woman of the Year, which does truly combine those two categories, right? Your athletic success and also your academic and extracurricular and just kind of impact on the world. So, you know, I mean, I've coached a lot of amazing players. I I'd like to think maybe we'll have another woman of the year someday, but, you know, that's pretty hard. There hasn't been that many, you know, in history since they started doing it, and there has been even less Division Three players that end up with that award. So, I think, you know, as a coach, you going through that experience of her, you know, going to that event and being recognized nationally with all those high-level and Olympians there and all these Division One athletes. And you know, for me, I'm in our program, you know, we certainly feel like that's a pretty high-water mark that I don't know….I don't know if we'll get there again. I'd like to think you would. But you know, for sure, Karenna will always, you know, always have that being the kind of student athlete that brought you know that to our program is very special.
What can you tell me about Karenna’s personality and how she played with her other teammates? Also, you spoke about her academic career, as well, how she was off the field?
Well, you know, I think again, at a place like MIT, it is a true student athlete, it's not uncommon. And Karenna would say this, and I heard her say it in interviews around the Woman of the Year event back in ’22, where it's like, ‘I’m kind of just like my teammates, you know, they all, they all are really good soccer, and they all work really hard off the field, and they do research, and they broke ground in things and for different areas.’ So, I've heard her talk like that. So, I think, you know, she recognized that, and I think appreciated being able to be a face of that type of student athlete that MIT, really, across the board and their teams, has. So, again, I think the off the field stuff is really just, you're going to come to a place like MIT, even if you love sports where you want to, succeed in both. And I always say it's like they're not willing to give up either one. They want to be a really good soccer team my players, but they also, they also want to do what they want to accomplish in the classroom, and then with their research and with their careers. And MIT allows you to do that. I think from the athletics department on down through the coaches and even teammates like they support each other in that. So, I think, you know, she was just very driven. I mean, at the end of the day, she was very driven person. And again, that's not unusual in this environment, but I think she was a little bit of a step beyond that in some ways. She did have that classic kind of athlete story and, like, of just being first the practice last to leave, that kind of thing. Especially with shooting, because she was a goal scorer. So, it's like, you know, we are scheduling shooting practice. She wants to come early to do shooting, then stay late to do shooting. I'm like, but we already have shooting practice, you know, maybe shooting practice is enough today, you know. So, she certainly was that kind of athlete. And I think, you know, with the academic part in the research and, like, it's the same thing, if you look at her list of accomplishments, you kind of wonder like, how did she find time to do it all? And I think even her teammates wondered that some. But yeah, I did hear a funny story about her, where it was like, you know, somebody was helping her with some research, and they were just like, going for hours and hours in there find, like, ‘Hey, are we going to eat lunch?’ And Karenna was like, ‘Oh yeah, okay, yeah, we should eat lunch.’ But like, for her, it was just about the work, like, ‘I'm gonna keep going till I get this right.’ So, yeah, ‘I probably should get some fuel in me,’ That just kind of sums her up, like, and just enjoyed it, enjoyed doing that, you know, in the lab, just as much as scoring goals on the soccer field. As far as her personality goes, I mean, you know, it's like she was just a very, very friendly person like, and I think, you know, again, I watched her talk about her teammates and the sport and all of that through the whole Woman of the Year process with those interviews. And it was just like, you know, she would always just talk about, for me, it was just like, ‘My favorite part of soccer is being there with my teammates,’ and just like being on the field with your team and I think if you're going to work so hard off the field, like you need some kind of outlet that's just not quite as stressful, you know. And I think, and it's interesting, because for some athletes, like being the person who, if you don't score, we don't win, is stressful. But I think for Karenna, with all the stuff she did, like she just could find joy in soccer, even if she, you know, had some pressure on her to succeed, because we needed her to create goals, really, but, yeah, just always smiling and very positive. And like I said, I think I do truly believe that she probably would say her favorite part of soccer was just being with her teammates. And, I think that kind of sums her up. And I feel like her teammates would say this, would say the same thing. And, you know, it's, it's always fun to see someone who's so good at something, but also just seems to enjoy it.
Martin, thank you so much for taking the time. I appreciate it. And I’m sorry.
No problem. Thank you for honoring her. I appreciate it.
