Aug. 11, 2016
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – University of Notre Dame senior midfielder Sandra Yu made an immediate impact for the Irish in her first season of play in 2015. After sitting out her freshman and sophomore seasons due to injury, Yu returned to the pitch as a junior, starting all 20 matches and notching three goals and two assists. Her tireless work ethic and on-field leadership resulted in her selection as one of this season’s three captains. Get to know her better in this first installment of “Ten Questions.”
TEN QUESTIONS WITH Sandra Yu
1. This is your first year as captain. How would you describe your leadership style?
I think I’m definitely someone who is more quiet and I tend to lead through my work ethic and attitude on the field. I think the voice part is something I’m really working on because once you combine all those different qualities, it’s much easier for people to follow in and see what you’re doing, whereas if you (only) lead by example, sometimes it can go unnoticed and go under the radar. Talking is something I’m really working on more to incorporate into my leadership style.
2. What is your favorite Notre Dame memory?
Probably the Virginia win (2-1 in double overtime in 2015). It’s just something that will stay with me forever. My mom and sister made the drive down (to Charlottesville) and surprised me, so it was fun.
3. If you could be any superhero, who would you be?
What’s an invisible superhero? I guess a quality I want would be to be invisible because I like to be very sneaky.
4. What is your favorite hobby outside of soccer?
I love to listen to music – all types – and I really, really love fashion and shopping.
5. What kind of fashion are you into?
It’s kind of hipster-y, I guess, but it’s just kind of casual. My motto is that anything that’s comfortable, I’m going to wear it. It’s very bohemian-ish, very casual and chill vibes.
6. What is your funniest soccer memory?
I guess it’s not that funny, but it’s kind of funny. It was against Syracuse, I believe, and I scored a header goal, but I had the worst stomachache and I was just not excited after I scored at all. People were like, “What the heck is she doing? Did she see that she scored? Why is she mad?” I was just not excited at all because I just had such a bad stomachache and I was like, “Thank God it went in,” but I just wanted to sit. I looked so mad.
7. What’s your favorite food?
Sushi. It’s always a hard question, though, because you feel a different kind of food all the time, but sushi is something I don’t really get sick of, so sushi. When I was in Japan it was incredible. Coming back here was hard!
8. What is the best way to spend a day?
I like outdoor activities, so if I had to pick one thing like I was on a vacation, I’d want to be outdoors like horseback riding or hiking or whitewater rafting or something like that. I couldn’t do that every day, but if I had to pick something to do one day, I’d want to go somewhere out West and do a bunch of outdoor activities. One of my favorite family vacations was out in Montana where we went horseback riding, whitewater rafting, to Yellowstone, just a lot of outdoor activities.
9. What is your main goal for the season?
We as seniors have talked about how we want to leave a mark on the this program and how we want to leave feeling as proud as possible. We want to leave knowing we did everything in our power to control the outcome of a game or the outcome of a practice and to know that at the end of the day, whether we win or lose, or whether things go our way or not, it was that we did everything in our control and that we’re proud of what we did while we were here. Hopefully the people the below us will see something worth continuing on, to carry on to the teams that follow after us.
10. If you could play for any team in any game, what would it be?
It would be Notre Dame in a national championship final. That’s an easy answer.
-ND-