[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]When Lynn Murray held the Ohio State Buckeyes scoreless last Sunday, it was the first shutout of her college career. Though it was a thrill she had experienced before, everything is a little different at the collegiate level.

“[Shutting out Ohio State] was cool. I obviously haven’t had [a shutout] by myself up to this point,” said Murray. “But I only did so much … It was my defense mostly.”

Adjusting to the ups and downs of college is not the only thing Murray has had to adjust to since coming to Madison.

“[The toughest thing to adjust to] is the accents I would have to say,” said the Marietta, Georgia native. “I have to do a double take sometimes, and be like, ‘Hey, one more time for me.'”

But when it comes to her play on the field, Murray has been able to adjust quickly to the college game and make an impact on the field right away, something she was not necessarily expecting.

“I didn’t know really. I was going to come in and do the best I could,” said Murray. “Stefani (Szczechowski) is really good. In either case [the team] is going to end up with a good goalie behind them. I didn’t plan on [starting], I had no idea what was going to happen actually.”

Coach Dean Duerst had a little bit higher expectation for the talented freshman.

“[I was expecting Lynn] to challenge for the starting role and she has met that challenge,” Duerst said. “I think that she is going to go through a learning phase as all new players [do] coming in. She has been challenged a lot by Stefani, which is great. They are both making each other better.”

But her partner in goal is not the only one that has helped her make the step up to this level.

“The other players have been very supportive, and they are really easy going and easy to get along with,” Murray said. “They make you feel welcome, which as a freshman [is nice because] you kind of feel like a fish out of water.”

Murray’s adjustment has also been made easier because she had played with so many different players before college.

“Between club, ODP (Olympic Development Program) and high school you get to see a lot of ranges of players…especially with club and ODP you get to play against a lot of the people that we are playing against now,” Murray said. “So some of the faces look familiar, even as a freshman. So you know a little bit of what to expect.”

Even with all of her experience playing with and against different players, she still understands that she must step up to compete in the Big Ten.

“I said welcome to the Big Ten this past weekend,” Duerst said. “It is very intense, very tight and you need to be sharp all the time. The speed at which the game is played is that adjustment that she has had to get used to. She has to learn from every game just [to] keep getting better and focus on what she can do. It all really comes to just training hard and working hard.”

Lynn has been working hard on her soccer game since she was in grade school.

“I’ve been playing soccer since I was seven,” said Murray. “I started on a mighty mites team with some of my friends from down the street. We just started as a fun little thing. I played with some of the boys across the street. They are the people who taught me how to play.”

The goalie position is not something she embraced at first, but she has learned to love it.

“I started playing goalie when I was 12,” she said. “Pretty much they were like, ‘You are too bad of a field player, so you can go get in goal.’ When I was 12 and 13 it was really horrible and then when I was 14, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is pretty cool.’ So I kind of just stuck with it.”

Besides all of her soccer accolades — Gatorade state player of the year and three time team MVP to name a few — Murray was also a member of the National Honor Society. But moving up to college has meant changes in academics too.

“For me, right now, just because I’m just getting into [school], it is pretty tough,” Murray said. “The travel part is hard. Compared to high school the level is not as different as I thought it would be, but the numbers are a little bit different.”

The biggest adjustment for her school-wise, however, is having all the responsibility herself.

“The whole waking up at 7:45 and making sure you get to class is a bit different than what I’m used to,” Murray said. “There is no mom alarm, it is all on you. I like it a lot better, but it sort of takes some getting used to.