Glenbrook South's DaSilva ready to start a new tradition
Lanie DaSilva is a Titan, but at Augustana she will be a pioneer.
Augustana announced on Dec. 2 that the Glenbrook South senior will be attending the Rock Island college and playing on the inaugural Vikings women's water polo team. Men's and women's water polo will both debut at Augustana in the 2021-22 school year, men in the fall and women in the spring.
Augustana coach Ryan Pryor contacted DaSilva, a goalkeeper, who took a visit to the "gorgeous" campus and was hooked, line and sinker.
"When they reached out to me I was just overjoyed, because there's not a lot of water polo programs in the Midwest and I was looking to stay closer to home, and so it was just really exciting," DaSilva said.
She'll be stopping shots in a new natatorium named for another Augustana pioneer, Anne Greve Lund, from 1923-34 the college's first director of women's athletics. The pool will open in 2021.
USA Water Polo listed 19 Division III women's water polo programs. Augustana and Millikin, also adding men's and women's water polo in 2021-22, will increase the total.
DaSilva said thus far none of her future teammates are local girls, yet after meeting the other recruits she found them to offer "such a good vibe."
"Having a Midwest girl is kind of rare in the water polo world," DaSilva said.
Though she was a Glenbrook South cheerleader as a freshman and has always been athletic, it was kind of a fluke the 5-foot-9 DaSilva took this dive.
She tried out "on accident" her freshman year, convinced by friends to give the sport a shot.
"I ended up loving it, and actually was pretty good at it," she said.
She's well suited for the pool. Her father, Nilton, was a competitive swimmer in Brazil. A dual citizen, Lanie took up swimming her sophomore season to keep in shape for water polo, and has had success as a sprinter on the junior varsity level.
In water polo, she was the starting goalie on the Titans junior varsity her freshman and sophomore years.
In 2019, her last high school water polo experience to date due to the 2020 season's cancellation, DaSilva was named her team's most valuable player after making 125 saves with a save percentage of .477. She added 14 steals and a team-high 16 assists - as goalie.
In the prep off-season she started for her club team, New Trier Aquatics. She helped the club reach the championship at the Midwest Elite Tournament, losing in overtime. This summer she was headed to play three weeks in Italy in July and at the Junior Olympics in California in August, but the coronavirus ended that.
Owning a 3.50 grade-point average, DaSilva is a repeat Central Suburban League Academic Award honoree, and won a Titan Pride Award her sophomore year. She's also in the National Art Honor Society, which may figure in her college field of studies. She wants to study either art or premedicine, to possibly become a pediatrician.
"I'm passionate about both," DaSilva said. "I know I want to work with children, and I want to make a difference in their lives."
Water polo has made a difference in hers. Like every other Illinois high school athlete, particularly seniors, she hopes to play her sport this spring. If not she's banking on helping put the Augustana program on the map.
"If it doesn't happen I get it, for safety reasons, and that's why I'm grateful that Augustana reached out and I'll be able to play for four more years, because if I was not playing I would just be heartbroken," DaSilva said.
"It's really unique to be pioneering this, and to be able to build a tradition. It's going to be so awesome and I'm so excited for it."