PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State women's soccer team is hosting its third Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) awareness match as the Cardinals face Skidmore College at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Field House Complex.
 
During the women's game and the following men's game (6 p.m.), there will be a table set up to sell T-shirts, and Plattsburgh State team gear will be raffled off.
 
Both teams in the women's match are expressing their support for the cause by buying T-shirts, which feature logos from both Plattsburgh State and Skidmore.
 
All proceeds from the T-shirt sales and raffle will go to Dysautonomia International, a non-profit group dedicated to assisting people living with various forms of dysautonomia, which is an umbrella term used to describe several different medical conditions that cause a malfunction of the Autonomic Nervous System.
 
Plattsburgh State women's soccer alumna Cait Gagen, who graduated in 2018, is one of the of people effected by POTS, a form of dysautonomia that is estimated to impact between 1,000,000 and 3,000,000 Americans and millions more around the world.
 
Gagen, who is currently pursuing a Master of Social Work degree at Keuka College, had her life was turned upside down during January of her senior year in high school when she was hospitalized for two nights with a terrible throat virus. She experienced excessive fatigue, weakness, a chronic sore throat and migraines. She was unable to complete a full week of school for the rest of her senior year. The summer before heading into her freshman year of college, she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and was told to not play soccer, which she played her whole life and planned on playing in college.
 
However, Gagen decided to push through and play soccer. After finishing her freshman year, which was definitely a struggle at times, she found a doctor that diagnosed her with POTS, which means her blood does not circulate through her body properly. There is no cure, but there are ways to manage the syndrome.
 
Gagen has to make daily decisions on where she needs to spend her energy. She takes medicine three times a day to keep her blood pressure up, uses salt tablets, drinks plenty of water and, most importantly, she exercises every day.
 
When it comes to POTS, the syndrome is telling the person to stay in bed when that is the opposite of what thee person needs to do. There are different symptoms and different treatments for everyone. Although there is no cure, Gagen has learned to manage POTS.
 
As a forward for Plattsburgh State, Gagen helped the Cardinals to the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) championship game in 2017. That season, she tallied nine goals and eight assists for 26 points. She also started in all 20 matches and played 1,494 minutes as she was named All-SUNYAC Third Team.
 
"It is nothing short of amazing what Cait did," Plattsburgh State women's soccer head coach Tania Armellino said. "To have been suffering from what was thought to be chronic fatigue and then discover it was POTS. To have POTS, which can keep you bedridden, for her to not only have been a student-athlete on a collegiate soccer team, but to have played 90 minutes per game and to do everything that she needed to do to be successful – sprints before we got on a bus, salt tablets, etc., is nothing short of amazing. Cait was so impactful as a player, but also as she dealt with POTS. Raising awareness for POTS is the best thing that we can do to honor Cait and get people involved."      

Last year the team raised over $1,000 for Dysautonomia International.

For more information about POTS, please click here. 

For more information on Dysautonomia International, please click here.