Ivey Crain arrived at William & Mary with a clear vision: she wanted to be challenged in every way.

"William & Mary sets the standard for being a school where balancing academics and athletics is really the crown jewel," she said.

The rigorous academics paired with high-level soccer demanded discipline, efficiency, and a mindset wired for growth. Freshman year was a crash course in time management. Practices, classes, lifts, travel, group projects — every hour mattered. Yet, even as her schedule filled, she sought more. "I joined a sorority too just cause I'm somebody who likes to be doing multiple things at once," she said, laughing. The busyness didn't overwhelm her. It sharpened her.

That constant calibration — assignments due, training sessions, leadership meetings, study hours — became the foundation for how she now approaches her future career in finance. "Being able to be a student-athlete here, you have to have incredible dedication, time management, work ethic," she said. "It set me up for the workplace."

Support That Made the Balance Possible

From the start, the William & Mary women's soccer program made its priorities clear.

"Before I even stepped foot on campus, Coach Julie Shackford would always say the student comes before the athlete in student-athlete," Ivey said. That message wasn't just a slogan. Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Services Taylor Rengers, her professors in the business school, and the team's coaching staff all reinforced it. Practices were scheduled around exams. Tutors were easy to access. Accountability — both in the classroom and on the field — was expected.

The culture allowed her to thrive. "They really care about you as a person and as a student, and also as an athlete — but the person comes first and the athlete comes second," she said. The value of that mindset stuck with her, especially as she prepared for life after soccer. "Sports last for maybe 20 years of your life, but the person you are lasts for your entire life."

Her parents and siblings amplified that support. One of seven children in a high-achieving family, she learned early how to compete, communicate, and contribute to a team. "Having all that support around me made it 100 times easier to set myself up for success," she said.

Crain thrived on the pitch for the Green and Gold, earning All-CAA all four years on campus and graduates among the program's career leaders in scoring. In 75 career games with 67 starts, she totaled 66 points, 29 goals and 12 game-winning goals.

Turning Soccer Lessons into Career Skills

Crain's path beyond Williamsburg began with internships. After a summer in wealth management at Morgan Stanley, she spent the next with Regions Bank in investment banking. Soon, she'll start full-time in Regions' rotational commercial banking program in Charlotte, working across credit products, treasury management, and small business relationship management. It's a challenging track — and exactly the kind of environment she sought.

She believes her experience as a student-athlete played a pivotal role in landing those opportunities. "I really showed my time management and my work ethic," she said. Communication, too, became a strength. "I became a better communicator, just a better social person, a leader, and a team member."

The habits she built in soccer — preparation, feedback, accountability — translated directly to the interview room. "Being a student-athlete in the past four years has been a full-time job, and I wouldn't change a minute of it," she said. "It's prepared me to take feedback, receive that feedback, process it, and put it into work."

Mistakes were part of the process. What mattered most, she said, was what came next. "If you make a mistake, that's fine. They don't care. It's being able to admit that failure and how you move on from that," she said. The team's culture reinforced that lesson. "We had a lot of accountability on our team, and I think that really sets the standard."

A Family That Fueled the Fire

Growing up in a large, driven family shaped Ivey's competitive edge. "I am such a family-oriented person. I could talk about my family all day long," she said.

Her dad worked in banking. Two older brothers went into investment banking. Her older sister chose consulting. Even her younger siblings are already securing internships. "Having grown up being the middle, I've had to fight for a lot of things," she said. "I stand up for what I believe in."

Her brothers, she joked, didn't go easy on her in backyard games. "I would always go and play soccer with my brothers,'" she said. "I loved being able to go out there and do all this cause it's like you're putting in years and years of work."

That same fire defined her on the field at William & Mary. "I am the most competitive person that I know," she said. She relished the physicality, the battles, the pressure. "We have to fight for every blade of grass that we get, and every goal I had was because of the team that I had behind me."

Practices were intense by design. "We do a really good job of setting aside our emotions, and then knowing that we have to be as competitive as we want to be in games, in practice, or else it's not going to translate to the field," she said. The standard: compete ferociously, then walk off laughing with your teammates. "This team to me really is a family. When I went into these brawls on the field, I saw it as I'm defending my family and my team, and I would do it 100 times over again."

The Classroom Competitor

That edge didn't disappear when she left the turf. It followed her straight into the business school. "Everything I do, I put 100% into," she said. "I was just as competitive in the classroom as I was on the field."

She sought out office hours, built relationships with professors, and chased excellence on every quiz, exam, and group project. In one course, only the top 20% received an A. "You really are compared to your peers," she said. "If you want to get good grades, you have to put in all that you can."

Her professors noticed the effort. "The professors at William & Mary really do care about you, and I'll say that 10 times over," she said. She kept in touch with them even after her final season, scheduling calls and staying connected on LinkedIn. The same was true in athletics. "I see the trainers, I see Colton (Krueger) our (sports performance coach) — I came in this semester even after I was done to lift and see him and ask him about his life."

Those relationships, she said, are her greatest takeaway. "Soccer aside — that ends — the relationships that I made throughout my four years will stay with me for forever."

Lessons for What Comes Next

Crain's competitive mindset is balanced by perspective. Losses stung, but they didn't define her. "I would always go in there and be like, 'You know, guys, we might play this team again in the playoffs. I want you to remember how this moment feels, and we'll bring it back to them next time we see them,'" she said. At home, defending their field meant something. "This is my team, my family, my field — you're not going to come in here and just expect to win."

She applies the same mentality to her career. "What's important now?" she said. It's a question she asks herself often — in meetings, on deadlines, in life. The answer, more often than not, comes back to people. "The place that I'm going, I know that this place will continue cultivating me into the person that I want to become," she said of her new role. "I'm super excited. I think it's going to be a great fit."

And she's carrying William & Mary with her. "I owe a lot of it to my experience here," she said. The discipline, the relationships, the standard — those are now part of who she is. "Between the student and the athlete, I look back having no regrets on anything that I did in either of those atmospheres," she said.