After a long day of classes, a softball team meeting and an afternoon soccer game, Zoe Davenport ’27 goes back to her room in the Chi Omega sorority house to get started on her homework–recovering from the game while preparing for an early-morning lift the next day.
Such is the busy reality of a two-sport athlete at St. Lawrence University. As a junior, Davenport exemplifies the balance required to play two highly competitive sports in the same year, on top of balancing a challenging academic load, extracurricular activities and a social life. Even with this rigorous schedule, Davenport struts around with a bright smile and no shortage of enthusiasm.
As a three-sport athlete at Notre Dame Academy in Hingham, Mass, Davenport excelled as a captain of the soccer, basketball and softball teams. She won several awards in the process, including the 2022 Notre Dame Academy Outstanding Athlete Award and the 2023 Central Mass Athletic Director’s Association Award. She did this all while finishing high school with a 3.97/4 GPA, demonstrating her ability to maintain excellence in a sport across all three seasons while carrying prowess in the classroom.
Following her impressive endeavors at Notre Dame Academy, Davenport committed to SLU to play goalkeeper for the women’s soccer team, but she soon realized it wasn’t enough. Her roommate, teammate and best friend, Caelan Jahnle ’27, is a member of the women’s softball team. She was a big factor in Davenport returning to the softball diamond as a collegiate athlete.
“My roommate was on the softball team and I realized I really missed it…after my first season, I was like, ‘You know what, I think I want to do both,’” Davenport said.
Since then, Davenport has juggled two high-commitment athletic teams on top of a demanding course load. But could she still maintain high grades while excelling in both sports?
She could – and she did. Through two full seasons of each sport, and another half-season through her junior soccer campaign, Davenport has thrived. She started several games in the outfield in her first year on the softball team and was named the starting goalie in soccer this season.
In net, during the fall for the Scarlet and Brown, Davenport’s presence has been heavily felt. She has amassed six total shutouts and has only given up 15 goals through 14 games played. Her performance so far this fall has carried the team to its best start in years, with a current 8-5-3 record.
Over two seasons on the softball team, she posted a .200 batting average, recording four hits and 13 runs. In the field, she has recorded 13 total putouts and only two errors.
Davenport’s athletic dedication has not stopped her from achieving off the field. She currently carries a 3.95 GPA and is involved in many extracurricular activities. She says she understands that although her dominance is felt on both fields, she is a student first.
“Student first!” her mother, Kim Davenport, preached when Zoe was at Notre Dame Academy, “and she lived that mantra. She became very efficient in her work and assignments, using her bus travel time, free periods and slices of time she could find to do her work.”
Davenport credits much of her ability to manage her time at SLU to the discipline she developed in high school.
“Timing-wise, it’s very similar, how you manage your time, which I think is why I’m able to do it so well at SLU because I was used to playing three sports year-round,” Davenport said.
The decision to play two sports in the same year can be controversial at times. But Davenport has found tremendous support from her head soccer coach, Dima Kaliakin.
“I encourage [playing two sports] as long as we have the conversation about if they are able to manage their time. Because obviously, first is academics. We still want them to be able to be involved in other things on campus and have a social life too, and then, if you’re able to handle all of that and two sports, then I’m all for it,” Kaliakin said. “From the moment that I had a conversation with her, I could tell that she’s someone who can manage both of them and excel in both.” Kaliakin appreciates Davenport’s work ethic despite splitting time, and said he will even attempt to catch a softball game next spring. “I absolutely want to come out and see Zoe,” Kaliakin said.
In terms of extracurriculars, Davenport is the social chair for her sorority, Chi Omega, and a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, which aligns with her purpose to support student athletes. She is also a member of the Crown Royal Investment Club and the leadership honors society, Omicron Delta Kappa, proving Davenport’s willingness to broaden her horizons and get as much as possible out of the college experience.
Despite having a full plate, Davenport’s involvement in two athletic teams is something that brings her comfort.”Having an outlet, the team, and the sport itself being a distraction from academics and just something else to do…is just a good refresh,” said Davenport. “Managing my time around assignments and practices and games, it really just helps me stay focused academically and stay on top of my work so I’m not getting behind.”
Even still, times do get busy, both on and off the field. “The game is so much faster,” Davenport said. “You really have to work to get better every day, harder than you worked in high school.”
There is also the fact that Davenport is double majoring in economics and performance & communication arts. It is inevitable that academic work weeks will eventually pile up, despite usually managing time effectively. Even when times get extra busy, Davenport makes sure to treat her friends and teammates with high humility and bring passion to her athletics. “She has a huge energy, so whenever she’s around, her presence is known, and honestly, she just brings a lot of joy to the team and a lot of high energy,” said Jahnle.
When Davenport falls into extended work grooves, she has the right people around her to give her the space she needs. “I try to give her space and understand that she does have a lot going on, so I just let her do her thing,” Jahnle said. After finishing her obligations, Davenport often joins Jahnle to watch a movie or bond with her sorority sisters.
Between her coaches, her friends, and her parents, Davenport definitely has all the right pieces of support to guide her through her extreme daily schedule. This is part of what allows her to aim high and always achieve. “She has high expectations of herself, and always has, so helping her maintain balance and perspective is our role,” her father, Dave Davenport, said. “That, and bringing brownies.”
In the summertime, after battling it out on the softball field and soccer field for ten months straight while achieving nearly perfect grades, Davenport spends her time relaxing while still staying active. Her family owns a lake house in Alton Shores, New Hampshire, where the Davenports have been retreating to during the summer months for years now.
“Zoe loves time at the lake. Since she was small, she recharges with water. “Kim Davenport said.
Zoe battles on the wakeboard even during these summer months, as her father is a menace behind the wheel of the family’s speed boat. She tries her best to soak it all in during these moments, because before long, she will be right back to grindstone–that, and eating brownies.