PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle field hockey team begins preseason practice on Thursday as the Explorers prepare for a run at the Atlantic 10 Championship in early November. The Blue and Gold welcome back several all-conference performers and begin its season on August 27 versus Davidson.
“I am very excited about the upcoming season,” third year head coach Michelle Marks said. “We have a solid core of returners and players that have stepped up this spring that will be competing for playing time. We had a competitive non-traditional season and our players have a feel of what they need to do day in and day out to compete and what level they need to perform at to be successful. We will be taking each game and practice one day at a time to prepare us for our conference portion of the season and ultimately looking to play in the first weekend in November at the championships.”
Leading the returnees is junior Rebecca Chylack, a two-time All-Atlantic 10 selection in her first two seasons. Already tenth on La Salle's all-time point list, Chylack scored six goals and added six assists in 2010 for a team-best 18 points. With a deadly shot on penalty corners, Chylack will look to lead the offense once again.
She will have plenty of help as fellow all-conference performer Neelam Kumar, A-10 all-rookie member Mariel Papa and senior Lindsay Fry all return. Kumar scored four goals and dished seven assists for 15 points last season, while Papa had a pair of tallies in her freshman campaign. Fry has started every game of her LU career and had three game-winning goals last fall.
Also looking to make an impact in the midfield and on the front line are junior Janel Paukovits (five career goals), junior Maddie Doub (three goals in '10), and sophomores Olivia Shoemaker and Kelly Rae Wright.
La Salle graduated two standouts in the backfield in all-conference goalie Emma Ruth and the anchor of last year's defense Rachel Deaner. But several solid defenders return, including Deaner's sister, Jessica, and fellow sophomore Haley Jennings. Senior Katelyn Haney and Becca Freed provide leadership in experience in the backfield as well.
Looking to fill Ruth's spot are junior Lauren Wright and redshirt freshman Lisa Shaffer.
A talented freshman class will also look to acclimate into college field hockey and make an impact during their rookie seasons.
The preseason schedule begins on Thursday with move-in, lunch, a compliance meeting, dinner and a two-mile running test. On field practice commences Friday with several sessions and will continue until the Explorers visit Washington, D.C. to take on Davidson in a neutral site contest.
“ I am looking forward to this preseason especially because we had a very successful spring,” Marks said. “With the returning players and our incoming freshmen, we are looking to create a team atmosphere that strives to be competitive every day. As a coaching staff, we will be focusing a lot on the basics and fundamentals for the first few days and getting the players back to where they left off in April. We will be preparing ourselves in the next few weeks for the upcoming season.”
