We are within months of graduation and weeks before spring games and the Lafayette Field hockey team met for its annual celebration and transition. The seniors are already beginning the transition to alumni and the remaining team is transitioning to the 2019 field hockey team. They all met at a dinner Friday night to celebrate an eventful season and remember the past years of friendship, hard work and to look forward to new careers and education. The celebration included fans, parents, coaches and administrators as we all got to laugh at and admire the accomplishments of these student athletes.
We were in attendance with all-American’s and all League athletes but more than that we got to peek into the fun they experienced between the games we all saw!! The evening began with a review by the captains Rachel Bird, Theresa Delahanty and Lisa Van de Geest. They reviewed what they believed were their best games and reminded everyone of the grit of the team as they came back from a difficult start to the season to earning post season play!
Coach Stone followed with remarks about the team and their determination. She especially reviewed and thanked each senior for their contributions and saluted their abilities on and off the field. She reminded everyone of the challenge of playing 5 top 25 teams, having an 8-5 record in the last 13 games after an 0-5 start, and the great efforts against U of P, American, Lehigh and Villanova. The seniors, reviewed to the amusement of all attendees four years of memorable ( and maybe some forgettable) moments between games and training. The laughter was unconfined and the camaraderie evident.
The Juniors then saluted the seniors and mentioned their many accomplishments and noted their admiration for all, Rachael Bird, Theresa Delahanty, Andriana Pero, Liza Welch, and Kristen Taylor. (Noted was Adriana’s scoring in the 99th percentile in her MCAT exams). They will be moving onto careers in medicine, engineering, business and perhaps the law and there was no doubt in the room that they would bring the same determination to their new endeavors that they brought to the astro turf field last fall.
There was then, the time for awards to be announced. Rachel Bird and Adriana Pero received the Academic Excellence award, Kristen Taylor was honored as “Iron Leopard” for her fitness, Caroline Turnbull was voted by her teammates as the “Unsung Hero,” Rachael Bird received the Player’s Award, and Theresa Delahanty was feted by the coaches for her inspirational play and received the coaches award. Finally, Lisa van der Geest received the Rappolt Most Valuable Player award. In addition, those previously named for all-american ( Lisa and Theresa), Rookie of the Year ( Molly McAndrews), all-league ( Molly, Theresa, Lisa, and Caroline) and all tournament winners Caroline and Theresa received their certificates along with the League weekly winners.
There was a considerably lengthy list for the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll that was posted in the program along with their majors.
In the end, there was an acknowledgement to the future as the spring schedule was published in the program, March 29 at Lafayette against Monmouth at 6 pm, April 6 with a tournament at Penn at 11:45 ( Virginia, Rider, Penn and Lafayette), April 14 at Towson, April 20 Columbia at Lafayette 12 pm, and a Lafayette tournament at 11 am with Drexel, Qunnipiac, and Villanova.
It was an evening devoted to the past with a look to the future and it was, as always, a privilege to be there.
Lafayette College Field Hockey 