By Ellen Horrow
USA Today
May 18th, 2001

Stacey Nuveman is on a roll, and it doesn't appear to
be ending anytime soon.

The catcher for second-ranked UCLA (56-5, 16-5 Pac-10)
already is an NCAA softball champion, earned during
her sophomore year in 1999. In 2000, she took a year
off from college and added Olympic gold medalist to
her résumé as the starting catcher for the U.S.
softball team in Sydney.

"Competing for the USA filled me with so much pride,"
Nuveman says. "It made me a better player, a better
person and a better leader."

Nuveman, 22 at the time, was the youngest player on
the U.S. squad and the only player still in college.
She also was catching some of the best pitchers in the
world, including Lisa Fernandez, an assistant coach
for UCLA.

"Catching Lisa Fernandez, who a few years ago was my
idol, was overwhelming," says Nuveman, who also roomed
with Fernandez during the summers of 1999 and 2000.
"I'm living with the world's best pitcher, who's also
my coach. I'm playing in the Olympics with all these
legends. It was pretty humbling."

Nuveman took the first step toward a second NCAA
championship when UCLA beat Coastal Carolina 8-0
Thursday in the first round of the Division I
tournament. The Pac-10 Player of the Year leads UCLA
with 17 home runs, 69 RBI and an 7/8 2 slugging
percentage.

With a year of eligibility remaining, she already has
put herself into the NCAA record books. She is fourth
in career home runs (68), sixth in RBI (231) and tied
for sixth in batting average (.450). If her career
were to end tomorrow, Nuveman would be the all-time
leader in slugging percentage with an astounding .919.

The records, Nuveman says, are nice, but they're not
what she wants to be remembered for.

"I'd rather people remember my sense of humor, my
compassion, that I tried to have a positive effect on
people," she says. "Perspective is what's important,
not records."