Mullings Earns All-American, UHart Bound

​Newington High School senior soccer star Olivia Mullings was named to the United Soccer Coaches All- American team, becoming the first player in program history to earn the illustrious honor.
 
Mullings was a captain and goal-scoring machine as a forward for a Newington team that won the Region D Conference Championship, defeating a previously unbeaten Wethersfield on penalty kicks in November. She recently committed to the University of Hartford to continue her athletic and academic careers.
 
Newington athletic director Christopher Meyers said this of Mullings, “She is an outstanding player, but a better person. Her dedication to development and personal growth, while supporting her teammates and focusing on the overall improvement of the program is what has earned her this distinguished honor. We are so proud of Olivia and are excited to see her continued success at the University of Hartford next year.”
 
Mullings was surprised when she received the All-American honor, saying “To be completely honest I did not think that I would even make it on the watch list. It was my goal to follow in the footsteps of my idol Kayla Lozada, who also went to Hartford from Newington, but I also wanted to surpass her. I created my own type of competition with myself to see if I could be better. This season I didn’t feel like I represented to the extent of my skill set, and I had a couple setbacks regarding various injuries, but I still put forth all I could and am beyond excited and happy that I was able to achieve the goal I didn’t think I was good enough to achieve. It’s surreal to me still.”
 
Lozada, who starred with the Hartford Hawks for four seasons and earned All-Region, All-Conference, and All-Academic during her time in the Capital, was one of the many reasons that Mullings chose to stay local.
 
“I chose Hartford because I have been going there on various different occasions for Girls in Sports day and camps and clinics since I was little. When I got the interest in me initially, I was completely in awe because I never thought I was going to be able to make it to the D1 level. I didn’t think I was good enough on top of that coming from a school I had grown up around was completely flattering and exciting,” stated Mullings, “This year overall has been unbelievable in that I was able to achieve my goal and gain more confidence in my ability by receiving the All-American honor as well.”