Sophia Lodge '23 Recruiting Profile

My gravitation towards field hockey was sparked when my family moved to Naperville Illinois when I was in second grade. There was no field hockey in our area, at any level - youth, high school or travel/club. My mom started the field hockey team at my older sister's high school, so that both my sister and I could continue to play the sport we loved. By third grade I was practicing along side the high school team, who were all new to the sport. This has given me a better bond with both the players and the sport. Ever since then, I haven't stopped playing, going to summer camps with DI coaching (Northwestern Univ), joining middle school level (Rage Field Hockey in Glen Ellyn IL) and high school level travel teams (RISE Field Hockey, Oak Park IL), training with USA Field Hockey's Futures training program, as well as being a starter for my high school Varsity team my freshman year.

At a young age, I was already used to practicing with high schoolers and I knew most of them, and as a result, I was able to have the confidence to be a leader on my high school team as a freshman. My classmates, on my team, voted me in as Freshman Captain. I will admit, that at the beginning of the season I was slightly nervous but after getting a few games under my belt I started to reassure myself, and gained my confidence back. Now that I that I think about it I don't know why I was so shaken up because I've known all of these girls for years and I've been waiting for this moment for so long. I've been anxiously waiting for the day I would finally get to play not just with the team but to play on the team and wear my own jersey that had mine and my sister's lucky number 4 printed on it. Because I am the coach's daughter I've had to push myself harder than everyone else to prove that I am worthy of the starting position. Yes, our team is much smaller and has less experience than most of the other teams in our league but we all work hard in practice which pays off in our games. This past season, our team attended an invitational tournament, and won the championship in shut out games, for the first time in team history. I was so proud of our team. During this tournament I scored the one and only championship winning goal, which happened to be my first high school goal, and my first goal in my field hockey career. I have always played defense, but on our high school team, my coach told me she needed my speed and stick skills in the midfield, and at that time the defensive positions were filled with older starters. My choice was play the midfield and start, or play defense and maybe get some playing time as a sub. So I made the commitment to change my position, for the good of the team. It was hard for me at first, but now I love playing midfield. I believe this shows my ability to be flexible for each coach's individual and team needs.

I believe I am very dedicated to the sport of field hockey. My travel team practices will frequently take me an hour away from home. I recently went to Connecticut and Florida for recruiting tournaments with my travel team learning more every time I play with my experienced teammates. I am definitely interested in taking my field hockey skills to the collegiate level. I am interested in a school that will both match my athletic and well as academic goals. My tenacity and desire to succeed will make me a great addition to your team.