Apr 28, 2010 8:22:55 AM

Ashley Hollister is making a difference at home and away. 

Upon graduating from New York University's Silver School of Social Work in 2009, the three-year member of the Violets' soccer team relocated to Tanzania, Africa, where she now works as the assistant director of the Janada L. Batchelor Foundation for Children, an organization that helps abandoned girls, many of whom have escaped abusive situations.

The JBFC provides shelter, education and health care in addition to basic skills that help better their lives.

What brought Hollister (left) back to New York on April 15, however, was a sport that she played throughout her life and is now passing on to a generation of African girls who need all the support they can get.

Hollister is spearheading an initiative aimed at turning residents of the Kitongo Girls Orphanage in Tanzania into a fully functioning soccer operation. The Tiger Lilly Girls Soccer League (named after Hollister's soccer role model, former U.S. national team member Kristine Lilly) is composed of six teams of girls who had no chance to play organized sports before Hollister arrived in Tanzania.

Fortunately, Hollister is getting an assist from the NYU women's soccer program. For the past several months, NYU soccer student-athletes have been collecting equipment for the Tiger Lilly girls, including balls, cleats, shorts, and the long socks necessary to cover the girls' legs from the exposure that is forbidden by their culture.

"When we started playing, the girls didn't have shoes and were playing in skirts," Hollister said. "We really wanted to get them proper equipment, so I figured I would connect with NYU women's soccer."

Head coach Werner Dasbach is not surprised by the path Hollister has chosen.

"She was the first player I met when I started coaching here," said Dasbach (right), who arrived in 2007. "I knew when I first met Ashley that she would be doing this kind of work. She's always had a passion for it, and now she's living it."

While providing the Tiger Lilly girls with soccer equipment and the opportunity to play organized sports is only a fraction of what the JBFC is committed to doing, it has given the NYU women a chance to contribute to lives halfway around the world. It's an opportunity that the Violets cherish.

"Ashley contacted (junior captain) Jane Barrett and I about working with her project, and then we brought it to the team," said NYU senior captain Lucy Dolly Caires. "When it came time in the spring, everyone chipped in and helped. It has been a team effort. We all love the sport, and this helps us spread the love even more."

"Ashley showed us pictures of the girls and we got to put a face to where our equipment is going," said freshman Monica Warek. "We know that we are helping put smiles on their faces, and it's inspiring to know that what I had is going to benefit them."

Dasbach is proud not only of his former and current players for the way they have embraced the effort but also of the culture of global responsibility that NYU fosters.

"It's really a testament to NYU. It's the globally-networked university in action," Dasbach said. "The fact that all of this equipment will be hand-delivered to the Tiger Lilly Club by a former NYU player is pretty remarkable. It's the power of sports.

"NYU is all about possibilities."

Dante Carnevale is student assistant in the athletics department at New York University.