Gladiators’ Lotz headed to Grove City

The South Allegheny goalkeeper will continue her soccer career as a Wolverine.

After a standout athletic career with the soccer and basketball programs at South Allegheny, senior Ella Lotz signed her letter of intent to play soccer at Grove City College on Monday.

As goalkeeper and captain for the Gladiators, Lotz earned All-WPIAL honors for her junior campaign and made the All-Section team as a junior and a senior, leading South Allegheny all the way to a fourth-place finish in Class 1A in 2023. She also picked up Mon Valley Independent Finest 15 honors for her senior season.

After a lengthy recruiting process, Lotz is thrilled to settle on her pick and soon become a Wolverine.

“I looked into a lot of schools during my recruitment, and it was definitely a long and stressful process,” she said. “When I started visiting, I kind of found what I want to have: another home where I can grow. When I visited Grove City, I just saw where I could grow within the community and learn more about myself as well as learn how to even encourage other people even more than what I’m just doing here.”

The Wolverines are coming off a strong 13-4-3 season that saw them win the Presidents’ Athletic Conference and subsequently make an appearance in the NCAA Division III Soccer Tournament. Goalkeepers on that squad include senior Courtney Lisman from Mars and sophomore Maddie Mills from New York as Lotz will look to find her place in the team starting in the fall.

The Gladiator has been a standout for her school, but she has also played a few seasons at Victory Soccer Club, which she said has been key in her development as a player and a goalkeeper specifically.

“At club, I’ve pushed myself ten times harder because you’re playing at a different level, and it has built me to be a better goalkeeper,” Lotz said. “I just got back into goalkeeping through that, and I never realized how much I love being a goalkeeper. I feel like I could truly show my strengths on the field with that, and it’s just a confident position that I love being at. I love being able to read the whole field to have the backs of my teammates. I’ve always just loved the feeling of being a goalkeeper in a sense, and I feel like the club also helps me realize that.”

Part of what makes a great goalkeeper is being a leader at the back, seeing the field for everyone and letting them know where there is danger or how to adjust. Not only can Lotz make the saves necessary, but she has shown plenty of leadership qualities in her high school career.

During her signing event on Monday, coaches, teachers, and more spoke to her impact as a leader, athlete, and student. They made it clear that people around her look to her for guidance and motivation due to her prowess and attitude.

So, what better way to leave that effect on others than being one of the most important players on the field in goal?

“I definitely do learn a lot from being a goalkeeper like being a leader on and off the field,” Lotz said. “I feel like I’m always able to read what my team needs. When my teammates are messing around, I’m like, ‘Hey, we have to lock in.’ I always say I’m their older sister, and I like to be in that role. I want to make sure that they’re having fun, but also pushing themselves to do better because I see a lot of potential in a lot of my teammates that they may not see in themselves.”

Lotz’s leadership acumen isn’t just limited to sports, though. She is president of the school’s Hospitality Club and a member of the National Honors Society. Her family, including father, Pete Lotz Jr., grandfather, Pete Lotz Sr., and grandmother, Marlyne Lotz, inspired her to take some of those characteristics into consideration for her schooling as a business management and possible marketing major.

Lotz Sr. ran a construction company and Marlyne was in charge of a nursing home, with the two experiences planting a seed for Ella.

“I definitely have jumped around with majors just because you’re trying to figure things out, but I’ve been very close with my dad and my pap, and something that’s really inspired me is how they always talked about business,” she said. “My pap has had multiple businesses with my gram as well, and that has always inspired me to have a business that makes an impact on the world in a positive way and also just makes connections that impact my life.

“I hear many stories about their businesses now that they’ve retired. The way my gram has impacted many lives, and hearing so many stories about my pap in the community, it makes me want to continue their legacies.”

Moving forward, Lotz is excited to go to Grove City as a player and a student where she hopes to hit the ground running. If her experience is anything like at South Allegheny, it seems she’ll do just fine.

“I’m so excited to improve as a player,” Lotz said. “I’m so excited to definitely take it to the next level as a goalkeeper because I just want to improve so much. Sports have been most of my life, and I want to keep playing and possibly make a bigger impact at the next level. I want to know what it’s like being a leader at that level too by learning from my teammates in the next few years.”