Lafayette College plays spanish U-18 men’s team

The Lafayette field hockey team encountered an unexpected challenge tonight as they arrived at the ATCH stadium in a suburb of Barcelona. Unfortunately the Leopard’s opponent, one of Spain’s top women’s club team, wasn’t able to field a team, but the club’s under 18 men’s team volunteered to fill in. Discounting the 0-5 score to Lafayette’s disadvantage, Coach Jennifer Stone was delighted at the opportunity. ” We took awhile to adjust, but the second half was very good and we were SO improved by the end of the game”, Stone said. Stone also singled out the work of goalie Katlyn Arnold who had 6 saves. In addition, there was special mention for her as the two teams practiced shoot outs at the end of the game. ” This was a great experience for the team and can only help our development,” Stone added.

The team’s tour continues tomorrow as our “Pards” move on to Valencia where they will become spectators as well as players. They will be attending World League games where team USA will be matched up with South Africa. After that our Leopards will play a local club team in the third match of the tour. Finally they will end the day watching another World League match between Spain and Canada.

The weather has been spectacular and Spanish people and field hockey players have been extremely friendly, as our team absorbed all there is available of Spanish culture and sport. A special shout out to Dave Blasic the Lafayette administrator accompanying the team, who provided the featured picture at the top of the page.