A Cecily Carl Story

Thilan Wimalasiri
Nov 5 · 8 min read

Hometown Roots

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania is a town of about 9,000 people situated in the eastern part of Cumberland County. While it has its own list of notable people, one name is absent and it won’t be long before that name takes its place on the list.

Before setting foot in the nation’s capital, Cecily Carl was making her presence known on the courts of Pennsylvania, leading the Mechanicsburg Wildcats to basketball prominence during her 4 years. Prior to the Senior season, Carl received 13 scholarships which included American, Texas A&M, Delaware, St. Joe’s and Xavier.

With a life-changing decision looming on the horizon, Carl went on to average 16.3 PPG, make 20 three-pointers, get named to the PennLive Big 15 First Team and receive All-State honors. With the season finished, Cecily knew she could not delay the inevitable and after consulting with her family, the renowned offensive star of the Wildcats decided she would be continuing her basketball career at American University in Washington, D.C.

Allow Me To Introduce Myself

The Tenleytown campus is small yet pristine. The Quad sprawls ahead as you enter from the Ward Circle Gate and walk past the various academic buildings to Bender Library. Next to it is a path that leads towards what would be Cecily’s home for the next 4 years…Bender Arena, the home of the Eagles.

American Women’s Basketball is coached by Megan Gebbia. Hired before the 2013–2014 Season, Coach Gebbia has compiled a 117–76 overall record during her tenure in D.C which has included 2 Patriot League Conference Titles, 2 NCAA and WNIT Tournament appearances.

Majority of AU’s roster for the 2015–2016 Season was made up of Freshman and Sophomores so expectations were a bit reserved. The season began with an 8-game losing streak and the Eagles could not get much going after that as they managed just 8 wins while losing 23 to finish 7th in the Patriot League.

Cecily made her debut for American in the first game of the Season going 17 minutes with 5 rebounds and 1 block, a solid outing. The 6'3 forward from Pennsylvania had scoring amounts of 9, 1, 3, 0, 2 and 6 in the next couple of games while adjusting to the collegiate level, learning new plays and setting herself for success down the road.

Cecily made her first mark in a game against Dartmouth. In a 45–41 Eagles’ win, Carl went for a career-high 12 points which came on 5–7 shooting from the field including 2–2 from beyond the arc as she blistered the nets inside Leede Arena. She was a force on the boards and on defense as she grabbed 6 rebounds to go with 1 blocked shot.

A couple of games later, Carl would start her best stretch of the season scoring 12, 10, 14, 10 and 16 points against premiere Patriot League opponents. She also went an amazing 6/9 from 3-point land during that span in addition to crashing the boards and gobbling up rebounds.

American played Bucknell to end their season and Carl absolutely dominated the game going for a career-high 21 points and 50% from the 3-point line. She ended her debut Season with 8.0 PPG, 4.7 rebounds and made the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.

A Brewing Storm

The former Mechanicsburg Wildcat got better in the off-season and showed it on the court averaging 10.4 PPG in 2016–2017 to go along with 5.6 RPG. She led American in blocks for the Season and made her way to #7 in AU History for Career Blocks.

American finished under .500 for a second consecutive season but made major strides from the year before, going 15–16 which included an 11–7 record in Patriot League play for the first time since 2014–2015. They ended the season Tied for 4th in the conference.

The first 2 years went by the blink of an eye. Countless hours spent learning a new system, getting used to college life and training your game to greater heights. Cecily Carl had gone through it all. Her growth as a collegiate player and the increase of her stats were all well and fine but the competitive fire was burning fiercer than ever. Cecily wanted to win. It was time to start her Junior Season.

Champions At Last

American started their 2017–2018 quest with wins of 72–67 and 66–48, setting the tone for the rest of their season. The Eagles put together their best record in Coach Gebbia’s time in D.C as they went 26–7 which included a mind-boggling 17-game win streak as well as a 16–2 record in conference play.

The Eagles were undefeated at home and their success continued all the way through the Patriot League Tournament where they defeated Navy in the Championship Game to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, their first appearance at the Big Dance since 2015. American fell in Round 1 to powerhouse UCLA but went toe-to-toe with the Bruins for the majority of the game, earning the respect of their opponents and the admiration of the fans back home.

Carl contributed heavily to this success as the Mechanicsburg native had the best season of her career with 13.2 PPG and 8.4 RPG. Records were shattered as Carl ended the season ranked #14 in program history for rebounds en route to becoming the 5th player in program history to achieve 100 career blocks/500 career rebounds. In addition to the Patriot League trophy, Carl also took home her own accolades, winning the Patriot League Tournament MVP award in addition to being named Second Team All-Patriot League.

The path towards a second Patriot League Trophy in 2018–2019 began with some turbulence as the Eagles dealt with a 5-game losing streak in the early part of the season. After some adjustments, American re-grouped and rattled off 15 straight wins, just two shy of their 17-win mark set the year before.

The Eagles ended the season at 22–11 which got them to the Patriot League Championship game yet again. This time, they fell to Bucknell but got an invite to the WNIT where they ultimately lost to Penn State in Round 1.

Despite coming up short, Carl finished off her collegiate career in style. She averaged 15.8 points and 5.8 rebounds while leading the team in points, rebounds and blocks. All of this resulted in Cecily winning her first Patriot League Player and PL Scholar Athlete of the Year awards.

Cecily Carl was one of the main cornerstones in getting American back to its winning ways. Her tenacity on defense and smooth execution on offense allowed fans to revel in the fact that they had spent these years watching a truly great player.

New Beginnings

While college graduation is a time of joy and self-satisfaction, it is also a turning point in your life. “Interesting” was Cecily’s reply when I asked about her job search. She described how this past summer had been eye-opening as she spent her time figuring out her career path after electing not to go pro. Her hunt churned out around 100 job applications as well as frustration at times.

“As an athlete, you are used to putting in the work and getting those results relatively quickly” mentioned Carl, talking about practice and seeing that hard work pay off in games. Looking for a job is vastly different when it takes weeks for the hiring process to be completed. Yet, being the determined individual that she is, Cecily trusted the process and in the end found her perfect match.

On August 2nd, 2019, Lehigh University and Head Women’s Basketball Coach Sue Troyan announced Cecily Carl as the new Director of Basketball Operations. When discussing the topic of her new position, the excitement was evident in Cecily’s voice. She talked about how everyone at Lehigh had been tremendously welcoming as she arrived on campus to begin her duties.

Carl noted that Lehigh provided a “great atmosphere” and that it was a “great university to be a part of”. “This is the first step in becoming a coach” she added. Carl was confident in her abilities to make the transition seamless. “I will be using my own experiences as a player and try to use that to help the players on the team now” she said.

Cecily commented that encouragement was a big factor towards building a confident team that will reach their full potential. Cecily further added that she earned the respect of the team because of her impressive collegiate resume. After leading American to a conference title as well as getting NCAA Tournament experience, the Lehigh team realized that Cecily knows what it takes to be great.

Building A Culture

Coach Gebbia will arguably be the greatest women’s coach in American’s history when it’s all said and done. There is much to learn from such a prominent person and Cecily agreed.

“She is really good with the x’s and o’s” said Carl of Gebbia. American ran a motion offense while Carl was there, meaning all 5 players on the court were always moving and could score. “This will be something that I will keep with me for a long time because that offense is good for a lot of people. This offense makes you a better player, shooter and passer” said Carl.

Culture is vital to the success of a team and is something Cecily pointed out frequently in our interview. A good team becomes a great team by maintaining a high-level culture even during hard times. In Cecily’s first 2 seasons, American was significantly losing. Regardless, they kept a strong culture around them which enabled American to be successful in her final 2 years.Cecily stated that when you’re crazy and obsessed about perfection, you expect everyone to buy into it as well and that is the key to being a true contender.

After beating Lehigh in the Semi-Finals of this year’s Patriot League Championship, Cecily went to her family and proclaimed that “Lehigh will win it all next year”. In a twist of fate, Cecily now finds herself at Lehigh, trying to make that declaration from 7 months earlier a reality.

“The senior class has been here for so long. They’ve been playing together since they were freshman and the team has great depth. The league will be very competitive. If we finish out games and in the clutch, we will be very difficult to beat. I expect a Patriot League Championship” she said as she gave an assessment of her short-term goals for the team. As for the bigger picture, Carl commented “the young players are impressive, we have continued depth and I see a very good future”.

Written by

American University ’17 ’19. Baseball Data Analyst/Flag Football Operations Assistant, Koa Sports. Independent Sports Writer.

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