Athlete Spotlight: Nora Giordano, Junior, Lacrosse

by Andrew Garda

garda@montclairlocal.news

Normally, people ask you what they can get you for your birthday, but Nora Giordano went and took care of getting her own birthday present as the Montclair High School junior attacker celebrated her 17th birthday by scoring her 100th career goal as a Mountie.

“It felt like a major milestone in my career,” Giordano said after adding to her total against Livingston in a 20-4 win Monday. “With the support of my team, I knew I could do it.”

Giordano, a junior, is committed to Lehigh University and will also play for MHS’ girls soccer team in the fall, had seen it done before and it left an impression on her.

“When I was a freshman I watched the three captains I had all hit their goals and it was so amazing to me. So I had that in the back of my head, that now I have their shoes to fill. They did it once, so now it’s my turn.”

Giordano isn’t just a scoring machine, though, and her five assists on Monday brings her total to nine for the season.
“Once you make your teammate look good, you look good. So a lot of it was looking for the assist first and then if you have the lane, go for it. But in a game like today you have to play smart and look for your teammates.”

One thing that excites her for next season is seeing her younger sister Katie arrive in high school and join the team.

“That one year together will be great. We grew up watching each other and our chemistry would be unstoppable.”

It’s hard to imagine Giordano being more unstoppable than she has been this season.

She took a few moments after Monday’s win to talk to us.

What are your plans this summer? I also play club lacrosse so I’ll have a couple of tournaments, but go to the beach. We go to Martha’s Vineyard every year, so I’m looking forward to that. Having a little downtime. I’ll also keep training to be ready, and work on soccer as well since I play soccer in the fall for high school.

What do you do with your free time? Hang out with friends. I have sisters, so there’s plenty of action at my house.

Favorite TV shows? My favorite TV show is “That ’70s Show” and I love “Friends.” I’m watching it right now — I’m kind of a Netflix addict.

Favorite Movie? “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is definitely a top one of mine.

What’s your favorite school subject? English. I’ve really got a good English teacher this year, so I like the books we’re reading and poems we’ve read. But it changes every year based on my teacher.

Do you know what you want to do at Lehigh? I’m hoping to get into business school and do something in finance.

If you could have three other people to have dinner with, who would they be? Michelle Obama, Drake and Gigi Hadid. Michelle Obama is super-inspirational, I love Drake’s music and I think Gigi gives a good message to younger girls.

Who inspires you? I think Serena Williams is one of the fiercest competitors I’ve ever seen in professional sports. I know she doesn’t have the greatest sportsmanship but I think she’s a super-fierce competitor and always brings it. She has so much heart and drive and that’s what I try to do.

What music are you listening to? I listen to a lot of Drake. Kanye West, Childish Gambino, Chance the Rapper. I’m going to the Governors Ball [a music festival on Randall Island] this summer so I’m looking forward to that. I’m into hip-hop and rap.