Eight Newcomers Set To Join A Talented Leopard Field Hockey Squad

In 8 weeks the 2023 Lafayette Leopards Field Hockey squad will be arriving on campus to begin their fall season and their run at a Patriot League championship, and entry into the national NCAA Tournament. The schedule has not been published yet, but if past is prologue, it will include a number of quality out of conference games, but assuredly will have the six Patriot League games which will determine entry to the League tournament. I do have it on good authority, it will include a number of New England schools along with League rivals Boston University and Holy Cross. I have heard there is also at least one ACC school and most likely an Ivy League foe scheduled.

Coach Stone has been searching the world for top notch talent, and according to go leopards the new class will have new leopards from as close as Wayne Pa. to as far away as Europe. It includes one all American and a pair who have played on their national junior team.

They will join an experience and skilled veteran squad, who are playing this summer in US club teams and International club teams!! The Leopards just missed making the League playoffs despite their .500 league record. Featured games this year will be Lehigh ( last year’s league champion) at Lehigh, and a home contest with Bucknell. The DC trip to American will be looked forward to as will Colgate’s and Holy Cross’ home contest. Boston will host the Leopards on their new turf.

American University has published an article on their new class and Lehigh has listed without biographies their incoming fall class. Lafayette has listed their new class with biographies on the web page. I see no other Patriot League school with their classes revealed.

As posted in the go leopards website we start in order of their new jersey number.

Number 3 Emma Maher

Emma comes from Wayne, Pa. and graduated from Villa Maria. Villa Maria is known for producing terrific field hockey talent and Emma is no exception. Penciled in as forward this future economics major is described by her coaches as ” quick and feisty with a heart of gold while being a selfless teammate.” No stranger to on the field honors she was also noted for her excellence in the classroom. Emma also likes to sail boats and has been doing it since she was six.

Emma was recently selected to the Nexus high performance games by USAFH in Virginia Beach. I will be traveling there, and will have a first glance at her in action.

Number 4 Stella Malinowski

Stella hails from Vancouver BC. She attended Little Flowers academy. Her athletic accomplishments are numerous as she participated in soccer, volleyball, basketball, and field hockey. She was on the silver medal team in provincials. Aside from from her athletics skills she was a competitive dancer for eight years. We are all hoping she can help us dance our way into the post season. Welcome aboard Stella.

Number 6 Maddie Evans

Maddie was a four year starter at Servana Park a 4A state champion. She was also named to the 2021 national academic squad. She is no stranger to winning championships on any team she played on.She played with Freedom HKY. where was a Shooting Star Thanksgiving Champion, a JPOL Champion and top scorer. Aside from her athletic and academic accomplishments she created BE STRONG foundation in honor of her father to raise awareness for heart disease along with her brothers. It was named the largest youth fundraiser in the state of Maryland for the American Heart Association. In her off time she likes to fish, wakeboard, surf and ski.

Her aunt Jane Curry Michener played field hockey at Lafayette and her uncle Graham Michener played tennis as a Leopard.

Number 7 Ines Araujo

This future Psychology major comes from Sacred Heart Greenwich and may see action as a defender. She is a Riverside, Conn. native and like many of her future classmates is multi-sport athlete. ( field hockey, diving and ice hockey). She also is no stranger to championships and was first team selection in the FAA league. She is active in executive student council and serves as Eucharist Minister. She played on AGH club team where they place second in the NCC’s.

Number 11 Lea Good

Lea played her hockey at Oak Knoll while coming from Chatham, N.J. She was a starter in both ice hockey and field hockey for four years. She is penciled in as a midfielder. She was first team all county, a Max top 50 honoree, regional all American, second team national all American, Team MVP, first team all state, and First team National Invitational Tournament. She was selected for the u 16 junior Olympics.

While collecting all this hardware she is a volunteer at the St Joseph’s food bank and also be found at the Jersey shore in the summer. This August she will be found with her teammates getting ready at Metzgar!!

Number 12 Katie Gibb

Katie already has played with a Leopard teammate. She and Laine Delmonte just played on the Under 21 Canadian National Team. She played her high school hockey at Point Grey Secondary and also like many of her classmates played ice hockey. She was captain of both teams. She was named athlete of the year 2018-2022. She has aspirations to play on the national Canadian team and perhaps she will follow Leopard Audrey Sawers who is now on the Canadian team.

We are all looking forward to her joining her other Leopards this fall and making an impact.

Number 15 Naomi George

Naomi lives in Surrey, England and went to St John’s School. A mid fielder, in field hockey she also showed her overall athleticism by competing in the triathlon. Championships are no stranger to Naomi as she was on the county and region championship for field hockey. She is the school champion and record holder for the triathlon. She was chosen for England Hockey’s performance center in 20,21,and 22.

Is there any doubt after swimming, biking and running that this athlete will star in preseason conditioning.

Number 23 Lena Thedrian

Their is no information yet on Lena and I could not find anything via other sources. We can assume this defender is a recruited athlete and has the quality of the others in this class. If anyone has any info, I will add it to this blog.

Welcome to all…to Lafayette Field Hockey!!!