Graduate star Jenny Mann looks to the future

Sitting with her legs crossed at Starbucks and her blonde hair pulled back in a bun, senior Jenny Mann, who is graduating from IU and leaving the women's soccer team, blows the steam away from her coffee. \n"I already had three cups before my exam this morning, I'm a little wired," Mann said.\nHer exam scores may be the least of her worries at this point. Last week she finished the MCAT and is waiting for the scores before applying to medical school to study orthopedics. \n"If (medical school) doesn't go through I'll go into pharmaceutical sales and go back (to college) for my MBA," Mann said, followed by a laugh.\nMann's future may be somewhat vague, but there is one certainty in her life: soccer will remain. Since the end of her senior soccer season, Mann has been the head coach of a 13-year-old girls club team and will remain as coach through next year.\nMann still looks in soccer shape, but getting back on the field is not feasible. She has endured two surgeries on her left knee that removed all the cartilage under her kneecap.\nOnly the memories on the field must make do for now. \nMann explains her soccer experiences on and off the field with joy.\n"I'll never be completely away from (soccer)," Mann said. "I wouldn't know what to do without it."\nMann's teammates said they enjoy her personality and respect her game.\n"Whether she is having a good or bad day, she always stayed competitive on and off the field," senior and four-year teammate Dana Philp said.\nAlong with her competitive nature, Mann's teammates described her as a great overall person and player.\n"Jenny is extremely outgoing, a great leader and never acted older than the younger girls," junior Shelly Gruszka said.\nDespite being injured for most of her junior season, Mann amassed 22 career points. In Mann's senior year, she led the team in assists with six, was second in points with 12 and tied for third in goals with three.\nHowever, being an athletic star is nothing new to Mann. Originally from Greenwood, Ind., she was named as the Girls Athlete of the Year at Center Grove High School her senior year. She lettered four years in soccer, three in basketball, three in track and was a two-time All-State soccer player. She also holds Center Grove girls soccer records in both career goals and assists.\nMann relishes her choice of continuing her athletic career in college.\n"My senior year was amazing," Mann said. "I met lots of great people and got to travel the country."\nWhile still having another semester in the fall, her foremost goal upon graduation is to attend the IU Medical School in Indianapolis. She said she intends to share an apartment with her sister, Jessie, who will play soccer for IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis.\nWhile looking ahead at the future is difficult, Mann said letting go may be the hardest thing.\n"We started with a big class -- 16 freshmen. We ended with five seniors, and I'm close with all of them," Mann said. "I don't doubt all of us will keep in touch, and I couldn't ask for a better senior year"