The New Jersey native’s UofL journey began as a freshman – a high school freshman. She committed to the university at 15 years old after participating in a UofL field hockey clinic with fellow potential recruits. The youngest, and in her words, a “pipsqueak,” Bianco became a Cardinal just one day before an NCAA rule change barred teenagers from committing to a college prior to the summer before their junior year of high school. The rule went into effect on May 1, 2019. Bianco accepted UofL’s offer on April 30.

“I’ve always wanted to play field hockey at a high level and UofL’s always been a really established program,” she said. “The city and fan base for all our sports plus our student-athlete body does such an amazing job of supporting each other.”

As a Cardinal, Bianco has played in 76 games. Her parents, Beth and Tony, have been to nearly all of them. “They’ve been here, like, every weekend,” she said. “I always joke with my mom that she should be a travel agent.” 

On Beth’s side, Bianco is graduating as a first-generation college student, something she’s proud of for both herself and her mother. A (SPAD) major in the with a minor, she credits SPAD’s multidimensional approach for her solid foundation to build a career in sports law.

At UofL, Bianco has stayed busy on and off the field. She’s been an active player on Team USA’s Junior National Team. She coaches local youth teams. And she’s president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, where she’s worked with student government to create programming that brings student-athletes and their non-athlete peers together in meaningful ways. It’s an initiative she’s especially proud of as it will continue to develop and impact future student-athletes.

“Being at UofL has helped me grow a lot as a person and an athlete by giving me leadership skills and pushing me to do things that might be uncomfortable in the moment but are going to help in the future,” she said.

As for the future, Bianco has big dreams – but she’s still deciding how she wants to play the game of life.

“I’m a planner and I don’t have an exact plan,” she said, but the next step after graduation is to return home to New Jersey and prepare for the LSAT while she’s still “in the zone” for studying. She’s excited for her next chapter, but grateful for the time she’s had as a Cardinal.

“It went by so fast,” Bianco said. “I can’t believe it’s already done.”

Mathews personally has experienced more than 20 kidney stones, four surgeries, countless tests and what she calls unbearable pain. At the moment, she has three to five cysts on each of her kidneys.

“As I get older, my kidneys will progressively get more cysts, causing them to shut down and resulting in kidney transplants or dialysis treatments,” she explained.

There is no cure.

Still, Mathews continues on while balancing a full schedule and maintaining a positive attitude.

The Louisville native is currently a junior at UofL majoring in Sport Administration and minoring in Communications. She also works full-time at The Clubhouse Apartments.

“If you know me, you know I live life to the fullest and don’t regret anything,” she said.

However, because of her PKD, there are plenty of challenges. Last month, for example, she experienced six kidney stones at once.

“Living with this disease has made it hard for me to enjoy certain luxuries of life. There have been multiple classes where I have exceeded the maximum amount of allowed absences and have had to make sure I would be able to even pass the class,” she said.

Mathews stays motivated, however, behind a goal of graduating next year and starting a career. She’s not quite sure what that career will be yet, but she plans to explore different opportunities through internships next year.

She also plans to continue to raise awareness about PKD and recently participated in the Louisville Kidney Walk, where her goal was to raise $5,000. She exceeded that amount by about $200.

“I am hoping to raise money to help find a cure because over 12 million people are affected by this disease,” she said.

Mathews said she has a sufficient support system at UofL, which is part of the reason she chose to stay home for school.

“UofL felt like home. I felt like I would fit in here,” she said. “I always feel like people don’t just feel sympathy for me, but they understand me as a person.”

“I am super pumped,” said Bruce Dougherty, who will graduate in May with his master’s degree in SPAD. “When Dr. (Megan) Shreffler emailed us about possibly going to the Super Bowl, I had to read the email like three times because I didn’t think it was real.”

Shreffler, an assistant professor in the department of health and sport sciences, said she wanted to see if there was any chance her students could be a part of the Super Bowl and in December contacted a colleague at the University of Minnesota, where Shreffler received her PhD in kinesiology in 2013. There were opportunities available, but she was just days from the application deadline for the PepsiCo gig.

Shreffler spent the next few days frantically emailing students, compiling applications and figuring out transportation and housing. “The whole week was a whirlwind,” she said.

In the end, she pulled together a group of three professors (including herself), eight master’s degree students, three undergraduate students and a doctoral student for the Super Bowl trip, a first for the SPAD program.

“Within the SPAD program, we really try to show students what class concepts look like in real-life settings,” Shreffler said, and the Super Bowl is about as real-life as you get for major sporting events.

The Super Bowl trip will give students a view from the “event manager perspective, everything that goes into an event and working a game day, but will also provide a glimpse into corporate social responsibility as students will serve as green ambassadors,” she said.

PepsiCo will have the team working a 12-hour shift encouraging fans to separate trash from items that can be recycled or composted. Team members will also act as “goodwill ambassadors” for fans throughout the day by helping them take selfies, guiding them around the stadium or helping them seek medical or security assistance. They will also get paid an hourly wage.

“We will get to learn more about recycling and green initiatives with sport,” Dougherty said. “I think that’s really important. In the future, green initiatives in facilities and operations are going to be really big.”

According to a , partners the NFL, PepsiCo, Aramark, U.S. Bank Stadium and the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority have a goal to recover more than 90 percent of stadium waste at Super Bowl LII. That’s more than 40 tons of waste, and it includes recycling bottles and cans, composting food waste and service ware and repurposing items like discarded handbags, signage and construction materials through local community organizations.

Shreffler said she hopes to be able to take SPAD students to more major sporting events in the future.