Zoe Martin: The Super Scorer and Multi-Sport Star
By Zach Segars
Photo: Lance Wendt/wendt5280.com
To most, the idea of earning a college scholarship from an NCAA Division I program in one sport is unfathomable, let alone two. But for Colorado Academy senior Zoe Martin – who has signed National Letters of Intent to play both field hockey and lacrosse at the University of Michigan – that caliber of dominance has only ever been the norm.
“It’s kind of always been the way that I’ve worked,” Martin explained. “Before I even started playing field hockey, I was always playing soccer and lacrosse at the same time, so I’ve always been juggling between two sports. It’s honestly just part of my routine at this point. I’m just used to it.”
During her high school career, Martin emerged as a star player for Colorado Academy’s championship-winning girls lacrosse and field hockey teams.
So far, she has notched five state titles, with two coming in field hockey and three in lacrosse. In fact, she hasn’t finished a lacrosse or field hockey season empty-handed since her sophomore year’s fall campaign.
That constant state of winning has, of course, been nice, but it also amplifies the pressure on Martin and her teammates to maintain that sterling record.
“I think everyone wants to uphold what we have,” Martin said. “I think that is the same drive that we go in with every year wanting to do better and keep going and get to another state title. We really want to develop and grow together and become better people and players, and hopefully win a championship at the same time.”
As impressive as the parade of championships is, Martin’s accolades and accomplishments go far beyond the team’s hardware.
She has also earned first-team all-state honors for field hockey three times and was named player of the year for the 2023 season. In lacrosse, she has two first-team all-state nods and one second-team all-state bid, plus the 2022 season’s player of the year award.
“She’s obviously a goal scorer,” Martin’s lacrosse head coach at Colorado Academy, Sonorah Hunter, said. “I think, in both sports, she just has a really tremendous IQ and I think that adds to her success. Her scoring ability is just phenomenal. She’s really trending close to five goals per game [this season]. We’ve only played a few games this year, but her ability to finish inside I think is just something I’ve never seen before. I think it’s a huge asset. It’s just crazy.”
Martin’s 36 goals through the first eight games of the season are five more than any other 5A girls lacrosse player in the state, and her 4.5 goals-per-game average also leads the way among the state’s 5A girls.
Beyond the box score, her presence as a leader has also helped instill a program culture and helped lift her teammates to that aforementioned string of championships, according to Coach Hunter.
“She is extremely competitive,” the Mustangs’ head coach shared. “Our team at Colorado Academy is a very talented group, and I think it’s because they are so competitive with each other that that’s why Zoe has so much pull there. I think people follow her and they listen to her. She is just one of those people that people are drawn to, and I think she has this demeanor and way about her that demands excellence from others around her. It is really apparent why she’s been able to have so much success.”
Her rare degree of success resulted in Martin getting recruited by many of the nation’s top programs, including the University of Michigan, which ultimately won Martin’s commitment in 2022.
The Wolverines are one of the nation’s four athletic programs that boast a girls lacrosse team presently ranked in the top 20 and a field hockey that finished ranked inside the top 20 this most recent season, making them an excellent choice for Martin.
That said, Michigan isn’t a blue-blood powerhouse in the lacrosse or field hockey worlds. That heavy task of building a legacy for a program was also appealing to the Colorado Academy senior.
“I kind of wanted [to look at] programs that are in the midst of growing and developing,” Martin elaborated. “I didn’t really want to have programs that are already so established. As much as Michigan is known for their lacrosse program, for example, I was really drawn to them because it’s still a newer program overall. They’re building from the start. This year, they were ranked second in the country, which was the highest they’ve ever been ranked and I kind of wanted to be part of that process of growing a team and becoming one of the top teams in the country, rather than join one that’s already there.”
Now, as Martin prepares to pursue her third-straight CHSAA state championship in girls lacrosse, and her sixth-straight state title overall, she has to also get ready for the daunting demands of playing for two different NCAA Division I programs.
Nonetheless, it’s a challenge she feels more than ready for.
“I was always told that, ‘You can’t play two sports in college. That’s not going to work,’” Martin said. “I honestly doubted myself but then I thought, ‘If I put in the work, I can do this’ and I worked hard, the opportunity presented itself and, now, I couldn’t think of doing it any other way.”
