Sometimes it just feels right.

After countless college visits and an extensive decision-making process, Palmerton's Monica Wood finally found a fit that felt like home.The New Jersey native has decided to play Division 1 soccer and continue to pursue both her academic and athletic careers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology."NJIT was the first official college visit I went on," Wood said. "I had the feeling that I liked it and that I fit in. I didn't feel that way about a lot of other colleges. I have family in Jersey and it just works out. It's so close to NYC, which is great because I'm gong to be a Business Management major. I want to be away, but still feel like I'm tied into everything. It's an exhausting process, but I'm really happy because it all fits for me."Palmerton's all-time leading scorer didn't always have her eyes set on playing D1, but welcomed the idea with open arms when she realized the opportunity in front of her."It kind of just happened and everything fell into place," said Wood, who was the Times News Soccer Player of the Year. "I never said I didn't want to play D1, and when the opportunity came around, I was certainly open to it. Before high school, I just wanted to play. I'm a huge team player. I didn't really get that competitiveness until my sophomore year when I realized that I had a chance to break records. If I had that mentality during my first couple years, I feel like I could have excelled even more. I'm not the type of person to care about individual accolades, but it was pretty cool to say I broke the school record."Not only does Wood love the feel of the NJIT campus, she is excited to play during the beginning of a new era of the women's soccer program. NJIT recently hired former La Salle women's assistant soccer coach, Ally Nick. La Salle owned a record of 70-27-11 under Nick's assisted guidance over the course of five seasons."It's a long process, but now I'm really looking forward to playing under a whole new system," explained Wood. "All of the athletic facilities are getting revamped too. It's a new beginning for the program and it's really exciting."As Wood reminisced of her stellar high school career, she noted that a pair of moments would last her for a lifetime."It was a lot of fun playing with my sister," said Monica, of Jaclyn, who graduated last year. "We're really close, she's a very talented soccer player, and we've always been supportive of each other. Last year, we qualified for districts and that was the best moment for us (as a team); it was huge. This year, making the First-Team All-Star team was one of my proudest moments. Looking back, it all definitely feels good now."Wood will continue to play for her Keystone Athletic Premier team over the summer.She has been coached since 2012 by Copeland "Ziggy" Lewis, who is also the head girls coach at Nazareth High School. She noted that Lewis has made a profound impact on her soccer career, and she's looking forward to another summer with the team.