Photo Courtesy of Sports Information
By Carly Mersky, Staff Writer
Senior Maddie Taylor is a strategic communications- marketing and advertising major with a Spanish minor and a forward on the Susquehanna field hockey team. She is from Worton, a small town on the eastern shore of Maryland.
What made you start playing field hockey?
“My mom played field hockey in college and has coached the sport most of her life. She was pregnant with me during one season and then had me strapped to her chest on the field with her the very next. So, you could say the sport has been a part of my life since the very beginning, but it has been something my mom and I have shared a love for, and I never really thought of playing any other sport in the fall.”
Who is your favorite professional field hockey player?
“My favorite professional field hockey player is Rachel Dawson. She is probably the most well-known field hockey player of all-time, but she played at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, (my favorite collegiate team) where her jersey is now retired and has just been such an inspiration to players of the sport for years. She has played in 3 Olympic games and won 4 world championships. Not only is she an amazing field hockey player and athlete, she is a big advocate for the field hockey community in general.”
What drew you to the field hockey team here at Susquehanna?
“I had learned of SU through a now alumna, Kelsey Lessard, who was an All-American swimmer here. While she was encouraging me to look here, I was also being recruited by the coaching staff and it all kind of just fell into place. Once I came for a couple of visits and got to meet the girls on the team, I knew this was where I wanted to go. We have such a family-oriented environment, and the way the team chooses to spend time together both on and off the field was really attractive to me.”
What’s been some of your favorite memories here with the team?
“My favorite memory during my time here on SUFH is winning the Landmark Conference Championship for the first time in program history, and then advancing into the NCAA tournament in 2018. We accomplished this feat. my sophomore year, coming off the season before where we did not even make the playoffs. It was such a thriller of a season and to be a part of a team that made history here at SU is something I will forever be proud of.”
What has been a student-athlete for the past four years taught you?
“Athletics have always been so important to me and my lifestyle. I was a 3-sport athlete in high school and played field hockey year-round. But since becoming a student athlete in college, I have learned so much more about time management, what it means to put a team first, how to prioritize and many other life lessons that could take years to explain.”
Who or what is your biggest inspiration when it comes to field hockey?
“My inspirations are always my parents. It amazes me how selfless they are. No matter what they always drop what they are doing to come and support me. They have instilled in me the importance of sports and I owe everything to them for helping me get to where I am today.”
What is your advice to the first-year field hockey players?
“My advice to a first-year would be to not take any moment for granted. Everyone tells you that these four years fly by and you never believe them, but now that I am at the end of my four years, I have never heard anything truer. As a senior, I feel as though I blinked and now, I am here. Especially with the state the world is in now, and losing my senior season, it’s more important than ever to make the most of the time you have here with your best friends. They truly are the best years of your life.”
If you could relive any game, which one would it be and why?
“If I could relive any game it would be the conference semi-final game last year at Catholic. Catholic is one of our biggest rivals and until that game, I had never beaten them. We drove the three hours down on a cold Wednesday night and beat them on their home turf. The atmosphere was electric, and I remember thinking- this is what it’s all about. We put in the hard work and long hours for feelings like this. Even though it was only a semi-final game, after the last horn went off, it felt like we had won the championship.”
What are you going to miss the most?
“I feel like not being able to carry out a normal fall season has really shown me that it’s this little thing I will miss the most. While winning games and grinding it out a practice every day are huge parts of why we do this, it’s the feeling of the locker room on gameday, or the long bus rides where we sing at the top of our lungs, or the annual pre-season talent show, or being able to do everything with all my best friends by my side. Those are all things that will be hard to replicate once these four years are over, and they will be missed dearly.”
