The Friends of Lafayette Field Hockey is challenging field hockey alumni as well as past and current parents to take part in a bracket challenge from Mar 23- April 13. Alumni and Parents have been challenged to make a gift during the designated period. The amount of the gift is not tallied just the fact that you gave.
Liza Welch and Lisa Van der Geest combine on a corner
The game is divided by graduation year and by parent year. Daily updates will be provided via Twitter from the Lafayette Maroon Club and weekly tallies can be found on the field hockey twitter, facebook, and instagram Lafayette field hockey accounts.
If 100 DONORS participate in the challenge, an anonymous alum will contribute $5,000 to support the field hockey program. In addition, the winning group will win a catered pre-game or post-game tailgate at a mutually agreed upon Field Hockey game in 2017. If you make a gift online or by mail specify Field Hockey Bracket Challenge in the appropriate box.
Cameron Costello looks for teammates against JMU
Only the participation rates matter.
The amount of money raised is not a factor
Minimum donation to be eligible is $10
We encourage online donation but mailed donations are gratefully accepted
Team members Elllen Colbourne Kaitlyn Ewing, Liza Welch, and Amanda Magadan begin workout.
It was March 21st, the beginning of Spring, but the much of the intercollegiate athletic facilities had all of the feel of late fall. The Leopards football team opened outdoor practices, and the field hockey team was hard at work on their turf field sharpening their skills in preparation for spring competition debuting this Sunday. Fortunately, the spring weather cooperated and it appears winter was being left behind.
The team gathers for pre-practice insturction
At this point in preparation, its all about regaining fitness and fundamental skills before the team begins to arrange themselves as a functioning unit. Practice, therefore was more drill than scrimmage. It does give one pause to witness the individual skill required to play the game. There isn’t one player on the field that can afford to be weak on the individual skills of blocking, tackling, passing and receiving the ball. That includes the goalkeepers, who aside from practicing these fundamentals, also must spend time in the cage nailing down their position.
For most people observing practices, repetitive drills might be boring but to intense fans it’s a chance to observe the athleticism of these athletes. Ellen Colbourne, one of our rising seniors, demonstrated why she excels in games. She is fast, skilled and demonstrates leadership every time she touched the ball. Lisa Van der Geest shows the balance and reach that we have observed during a game.
Ellen Colbourne executes the two touch drill
As the afternoon wore on you could see the muscle memory click in on everyone, but there is more that isn’t always evident on game day. There is a closeness on this team. They are friends. They tease and kid one another while encouraging their teammates to get better. The game is not played in isolation of one another. This isn’t an individual sport, but a sport where the whole can be better than its parts. That of course is the lesson learned in team sports.
Gabbie Ulery in the goal
During goalie drills, assistant Sarah Dalrymple reminded the goalies that the beginning of the offensive attack can be the save and clear. “No second shots,” was the reminder to the goalies while their teammates labored on the other side of the field.
Lisa Van der Geest sharpens her skills
Meanwhile, Coach Stone stressed balance and vision, looking forward for space in a two touch drill that increased in speed as the drill wore on. Even the coaches don’t let their skills atrophy as Head Coach Stone coached the US under 17 team in North Carolina last week during spring break.
Recruiting goes on as it looks like Stone has secured verbal commitments from a number of recruits to join the team in 2018 and 2019. There are six commitments ready to be Leopards this fall, but Stone is open to adding perhaps one more, even after the April NLI signing. Reloading is an ongoing and constant process for division one sports.
This sunday is the first competition for the team and the schedule looks like this:
11 am Lafayette v Lehigh
11:40 Temple v Cornell
12:10 Cornell v Lehigh
12;40 Lafayette v Temple
1:10 Cornell v Lafayette
1:40 Lehigh v Temple
2:10 3rd v 4th
2:40 1st v 2nd
addendum: Senior Amanda Magadan, and USA Team member, participated in some of the drills and in a brief conversation with me revealed her amazing schedule. Not only is she working working hard to complete her Dean’s List level academic work, but practices with the US Team on Monday’s and Friday’s. An amazing schedule for an amazing athlete.
A week ago I gave Coach Stone a call to see if I could peek in at a training session. I was hopeful of catching the team out on the turf to get some pictures of the 2017 version of Leopards Field Hockey. As luck would have it, it was near mid-terms and semester break, and that particular mid week practice was of the indoor variety. Thinking I already had a number of pictures of the team running around the track or lifting weights, I decided to pass, but part of the return email was intriguing. “We’ve decided that we would do a yoga session,” wrote Coach Stone. So I immediately decided to do some research on the subject of Yoga and Sports Training.
I found in my own health club, yoga has become a mainstay. Yoga instructors tout its benefits. ” Unlike other forms of training, yoga has many layers of benefits for the athletes,” opined one instructor. ” It can increase mental concentration and improve flexibility, and balance, as well as prevent common injuries, and hone skills common in many sports.”
First practiced in India ( a well known field hockey playing country), Yoga use poses, or asanas to prepare the body, much the same way any athlete would prepare for a sports competition. The benefits are available for elite athletes or weekend warriors like me. After pushing the body to the max, resulting in weakness and injury, yoga can help the body to strengthen and restore overtaxed muscles. It elongates tight,shortened and fatigued muscles, while bringing calmness and clarity to the mind. Just the trick right before mid-term exams.
Yoga can act as a biofeedback tool, that can aid athletes to develop better body awareness helping the athlete avoid stress related injuries. Many competitions result in a tremendous pounding, and shortening of the muscles. Tight muscles can be brittle and hard, writes Rebecca Browning a famous triathlete. The athlete needs to enhance elasticity of those muscles. Tightening of muscles makes the athlete work harder decreasing competitive effectiveness.
Coach Stone writes, ” we have been integrating yoga in our general fitness program recently, with good success.” Never a ‘stone’ unturned to get victory in the fall!!
Training continues with the players getting ready for that first competition on the field with spring games on March 26 against Temple, Lehigh and Cornell.
Meanwhile we are planning a special “event” that will bring into competition, decades of alumni and benefiting our field hockey program. Keep in touch….which decade will prevail?? Or maybe it will even be our current and alumni parents??
Katelyn holds her newest piece of hardware honoring her as the Maroon Club Student Athlete of the year
We all know of the athletic ability of the Lafayette Field Hockey team but they have proven themselves to be champions in the classroom as well. Sixteen of the the twenty three members of the team were named to the Patriot League Honor Roll for 2016. The Patriot League Honor Roll consists of student athletes who attain a 3.2 or higher GPA.
Here are the selections for the 2016 fall semester:
Katelyn Arnold senior Government and Law and Economics 4.0 from Coopersburg Pa.
Rachel Bird sophomore Economics 3.25 from North Vancouver B.C.
Ana Buzzerd Freshman Undeclared 3.33 from Haddonfield N.J.
Ellen Colbourne Junior Economics and International Affairs 3.23 New Westminster B.C.
Rosa Jonckheer Freshman Mathematics 3.25 Naarden, Netherlands
Meg Lillis Junior Economics and Government and Law 3.5 Reading Pa.
Amanda Magadan Senior Psychology and Economics 3.57 Randolph N.J.
Sara Park Freshman Chemistry 3.58 Collegeville, Pa.
Adriana Pero Sophomore Neuroscience 3.75 Harleysville,Pa.
Rosa Shanks Junior History and Anthropology and Sociology 3.25 Glasgow, Scotland
Lisa van de Geest Freshman Undeclared 3.68 Oegstgeest, Netherlands
Not only are they doing well in various fields, there are no faux majors. They are all held to the same standards as any other student. Congratulations to all our STUDENT athletes!! Four weeks to our opening spring game!!
Ellen Colbourne delivers the ball upfield into the circle for the assist against Temple. Ellen will be a key player next year!
For the past several weeks training for Lafayette Field Hockey has consisted of strength and conditioning and indoor games to break the monotony. Using the indoor facilities of Kirby Field house can be fun and different but the game is all about playing on the turf. The temperatures on the east coast are mild and the near 70 degree weather gave the team the perfect environment to return to the friendly confines of Rappolt Field.
The first spring competition is scheduled for March 26 with round robin games at Lafayette with Lehigh, Temple and Cornell. It is during that month of practice that the coaches will begin to reshape the existing team for next year. They will especially be looking at replacing seniors at midfield and goalie. The defense looks fairly solid and deep, but both goalies on the team have seen no action in real games. The spring will be an opportunity for both to get plenty of playing time and observation by the coaching staff.
The is no doubt we will see several rising sophomores in the midfield and a chance for juniors to shine as well. Although several players will be in new positions by the end of the spring, we should see the players come together as a team. As a fan, the goal for me is to see this team better than the sum of it’s parts.
According to Coach Stone the team is healthy and should be at its best during outdoor drills. Going outdoors is always a morale builder and should lead to intense practices.
I will try to attend some of the practices and certainly the spring games to see what our 2017 Leopards look like.
Meanwhile, recruiting goes on and I am hearing there will be at least one addition to the class announced in the fall, and perhaps one more. Spring signing is in April so we will have to wait to see what our incoming class looks like in whole.
While our current Leopards are hard at work toiling in their academic classes, and working with the strength and conditioning team, our coaches are deep into scouting for future team members. In recent years, the advent of showcasing tournaments during the winter have become a convenience for coaches to view young talent. For many programs, the recruiting class entering in 2017 is nearly complete however, now the recruiting effort goes years into the future. I have heard of unsigned commitments extended even from high school freshmen in rare cases. Commitments for the incoming classes for 2018 and 19 is becoming more and more common. Lafayette is part of that process.
The february showcase, occurring in the warm climate of florida is sponsored by USA field hockey and features teams from clubs all around the country. Participating colleges fly down for the tournaments where they can get an early look at these young athletes. There is a representative from almost every Patriot League school at the February tournaments as well as the ACC, Big Ten, A-10, and as well as some division 2 and division 3 leagues.
Rising senior defender Cody Hunsicker spies an open reciever
Recruiting for foreign athletes occurs this spring, as most of those athletes are just now showing interest for the fall. So it becomes a balancing act for coaches as they may have partially filled spots for the coming fall in anticipation of seeing a recruit from overseas that might fill a need. As each potential athlete vies for a coveted spot on a fall team, there is a myriad of paperwork to be completed before she can play. This includes the student visa applications after qualifying with TOFEL tests, and SAT type exams.
Many fans do not realize that the finished product in August is the result of 2-3 years effort in recruiting to insure the best of the best are wearing the Maroon and White this fall.
Rising senior Rosie Shanks breaks through American University defenses during overtime contest.
Although the school has not announced the fall schedule I can tease you by saying it will include a number of top 20 teams, including, I am led to believe, the reigning national champion. The schedule reflects Coach Stone’s faith in the skill of the team and the potential of the emerging freshmen class.
No doubt success comes with hard work as everyone else in the schedule is improving at the same time. It is less two month before the first spring games and I am looking forward to seeing how things are shaping up.
It’ll be eight months before the opening whistle of the 2017 season, but both players and coaches are doing their best to prepare. It’s a new semester and our Lafayette Field Hockey stalwarts are already hard at work in the classroom. However, in a process dictated by the NCAA, our division one field hockey team will also be training with the staff of the strength and conditioning department to make sure they will be ready for the outdoor spring season slated to begin in late March.
No doubt they are working to improve skills as well using the indoor facilities of the Kirby Sports Center and perhaps even going out to Rappolt Field to take advantage of our unusually warm winter on the northeast coast. ( I am knocking on wood hoping it remains the same for the coming months).
Adriana Pero and Liza Welch hard at work getting ready for last season
I did see in a tweet ,who I thought was Ellen Colbourne, at the US Naval Academy in a group for Patriot League leadership seminars. This is a great program sponsored by the Patriot League to encourage leadership by our student athletes.
For the coaches as well, it is a busy time as recruiting is going on unabated. Four have been signed in the early signing period last fall and the last signing period is in April where there will no doubt be several more recruits putting their name on the dotted line. There have been several who have already made visits to Easton to kick the tires, and we all look forward to the completed list of those who will be on the 2017 roster.
This week end has the men’s basketball in action at home, and we can always find our group cheering on the Leopards. Many of our basketball players were ballboys during the field hockey season and the team is always ready to return the favor with support.
As you can see I am anxious to see the beginning of the spring season, but I thought I’d keep in touch anyway.
Amanda Magadan, the star all-american senior midfielder for the Lafayette Leopards, has been named to the US National Women’s Field Hockey Team. She joins 26 other athletes on the squad who will compete in the FIH World League semi-finals in Johannesburg, South Africa July 18-23 and in the Pam Am Cup Aug 18-27 in Lancaster,Pa. Having traded her Maroon and White uniform for the Red, White and Blue, it marks the first time a Lafayette female athlete has made the national team in her sport.
Magadan scores as Van der Geest stands at the ready on an offensive corner against American
Amanda was a leader on the field scoring the most goals for her team from the mid-field position, a position she will be playing for the US squad. As of this writing I have not had a chance to contact her, but my congratulations to her on this outstanding accomplishment. She is only one of four named to the squad this year, signaling her as one of the top players in the country.
Magadan attracts a lot of attention driving the ball up the field
The first snows in the northeast fell last night and it nudged my annual malaise into gear. The year is finally over and I guess I have to start thinking about next year. The athletes old and new have had their last practices. The seniors are thinking about jobs after graduation or continuing education in graduate school. Everyone else will be thinking about the return to campus and beginning of training for the next season. At Lafayette, the semester break is a month long but hopefully will be filled with playing and training. Some will be playing with club teams while others will be trying to stay fit and work off those Christmas and New Years pounds.
As for the signed the recruits, they will soon be making an official visit and will be meeting their new teammates as a group for the first time. The coaches are still recruiting and preparing for spring training and contests. But what of us poor fans?? Yes, I have been looking at past recordings of games ( my favorite is the Boston University win), half pretending I haven’t watched them numerous times before. The snow outside reminds me to look at them with the purpose of imagining what next year’s team will look like.
There is a plethora a talent returning but I will miss this senior class. Looking at the Boston game I have marveled at Kate Arnold’s performance in the cage especially during the shootout, Amanda Magadan’s leap over the goalie and subsequent goal in the same shootout, Amy Turner’s gritty performance during regulation and overtime, and the joy as Aliza Furneaux pulled back and beat the Boston goalie at a difficult angle for the winning goal. All great memories.
But I believe there are more memories to come. Our rising seniors have an abundance of talent and I expect our new juniors and sophomores will give me thrills, to match this year’s. There will be a new goalie in the cage next year, but she will be protected by a very solid defense. The midfield will have to add attacking midfielders to replace our seniors, but I am confident the talent is there. I look ahead to a forward line, healthy and productive. The most fun will be to see who unexpectedly rises to the top and provides us with plays that lead us to success on the field.
The league is improving. Holy Cross announced their new class and discovered a Dutch connection for their incoming class to help their improving program. They will be anchored by their excellent goalkeeper who was discovered early last season on the ice hockey team. Lafayette has become their PL team to beat in the last two years. Next year they play us at home, I look forward to that game. Bucknell returns to Rappolt Field and those games are always tough, as we will need to beat Boston and American at their place. There is always Lehigh who is improved under their new coach and Colgate whose new coach will arrive on the Leopard turf for the first time.
Coach Stone has promised we will see some new teams on the schedule as the non conference opponents remain top secret for the moment. Last years non conference foes included the national champion and many NCAA tournament participants. I am confident the new schedule will be just as exciting.
Aside from the final spring signing day for our newest Leopards, the current team will have a full spring schedule. Saturday March 25th will be the alumni game which is looked forward to by every fan. That will be followed by a spring contest at Saint Joe’s on April 2nd, another with UPENN on April the 8th and the annual visit to Columbia on April the 23rd.
In the meantime it’s back to watching overly tall athletes in shorts try to get a large ball through a hoop suspended 11′ from the floor. April can’t be that far away can it??
In a search which seems to have the intensity and interest, second only to the search for a new Lafayette president several years ago, things seems to be lining up for imminent announcement. In my association with the school, this has been the most organized and thorough search for a coach I can remember. The school has hired two consultants, one for the football search, and one to look at making the athletic program more competitive. There is no doubt, this has been key factor in this process. The announcement could come as early as tonight at 6 pm.
As you all know, this is a site that follows the field hockey team, which is the most successful program at Lafayette, and I believe could emerge as a strong contender next year in the Patriot League.I am assuming recruiting fills some holes, and my confidence in the continued development of younger players this spring.
However, football, having been played for over 150 years at Lafayette, with the rivalry with Lehigh at its center, is a marquis sport. This search could be a clue to a new effort to improve the performance of the athletic program in general. At this writing the rumor mill is in full swing, but it appears three finalists have made it thus far. There were two assistants from the Ivy League and one from a southern CAA school with both NFL and college experience in competition, according to strong rumors. It signals a seriousness of purpose, which will eventually leak into the other sports. Lafayette’s physical facilities are impressive and the using such tools as athletic scholarships should help Lafayette be competitive
Returning rising seniors Ellen Colbourne and Cody Hunsicker move to cut off Albany attacker.
I am a strong believer in competitive sports and the inclusion of Division one sports at a school like Lafayette. It helps to attract exciting student athletes, who bring all their talents, and enhances the quality of the student experience, to say nothing of eventually adding to the quality of our alumni population.
A strong hire will signal to everyone that a successful athletic program is part of the vision for a good student experience. Being a division one student athlete is not for everyone, but for those that can handle a rigorous academic experience with an athletic program that has wining as its goal, can only enhance our attractiveness. This is a message that will not be missed by our baseball, soccer and for sure, my favorite, our field hockey team!
The team is now in semester hiatus but hopefully they are continuing their physical training preparing for a return to campus and a brief indoor season and a spring competition schedule that will demonstrate how far we have come!
GO PARDS!!
Addendum: Published reports have John Garrett former OC at Richmond as the new head Coach. Coach Garrett is the brother of the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He has coached in the NFL spending five years with the Cowboys and additional years with other NFL teams. He is a graduate of Princeton. Welcome to Easton and Leopard land.
Lafayette College Field Hockey 