WALES, Wis.— Molly Dulde loves playing goalie on the lacrosse field. Her father, Chuck Dulde, helped coach and train her along the way.
She dabbled in tennis, but lacrosse is her true passion, and has been since she took to the field in the 4th grade.
“She was about as wide as she was tall at the time," said Chuck Dulde. "It was kind of fun to go and watch her play. Her disposition was super cool and chill. She was not afraid of the ball, and wasn’t afraid to be scored on. It slid off of her. She was a natural from her personality standpoint.”
As a high school freshman, Molly Dulde started the year playing behind a talented senior goalie.
“My coach wouldn’t let me play because I was a freshman, but then when he finally put me in, I had a shutout game," said Molly Dulde.
Her coach, Mike Magill, said the shutout came against a solid opponent.
“It was just exciting. The senior was going to graduate, and you wonder what you have going forward. To see that performance was impressive and refreshing at the same time," said Magill, Kettle Moraine's lacrosse coach.
She’s good enough to play lacrosse at college next year. She’s also smart enough for that college to be Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Once on campus next year, Molly Dulde will end up playing a lot. MIT graduated two senior goalies this spring, leaving the door wide open for the incoming freshman.
"With admissions being as competitive as they are, there just weren’t any other goalies that got in. I’m going to get to have all the playing time," said Molly Dulde. "I’m pretty excited."
Molly Dulde said she plans to major in biomedical engineering at MIT.
She’s mentored younger teammates on the field and helped them pick classes that will help them down the road.
“I want to go more into the STEM field which is what she’s going into. She talked about which classes helped her the best in terms of being prepared for the future and getting into colleges," said Ella Kastner, a high school sophomore and fellow goalie.
Molly Dulde said she likes scientific research and designing medical devices. She's put those skills to use for the Kettle Moraine Students Modeling A Research Topic team.
“Molly’s team specifically organized their product into a way that would show relief from migraines using a stimulator that would stimulate the vagus nerve. Their research found that stimulation to the vagus nerve can relieve pain from migraines," said Melissa Kirby, science teacher & SMART team advisor.
Molly Dulde has been a Girl Scout since kindergarten, and gave back to the community through the organization. She displayed effort and innitiative while earning her Silver Award.
“A partner and I developed a sign language class to teach to kids. We wanted to run it through Summer Academy, but we couldn’t find a teacher, so we decided to teach it ourselves," said Molly Dulde.
“She’s just a good model of what someone might want to be in life," said Kastner.
And Molly Dulde is just getting started.