Carly Kauffman to play field hockey at Boston College

Oley Valley High School senior Carly Kauffman has been playing field hockey most of her life, and now that her high school days are almost over, it was time for her to take the next step and play at the college level. So, on April 22, Kauffman signed her national letter of intent to play field hockey at Boston College University.

Kauffman thought the process of finding the right school was exciting. She got to see all the different nuances with each of the colleges.

“Going into the process, it was a case of finding the school that had excellent academics, along with having a very strong field hockey program,’ said Kauffman. “It came down to where I felt the most wanted.’

Kauffman will admit that the whole process of finding the right school was a lot harder than she had thought. As the beginning, it was exciting, but as her choices grew, the decision became more difficult. Carly looked at the positives and negatives of each school and it wasn’t as clear as she had thought it would be.

“Maybe some aspects were important to you, and somearen’t so important anymore,’ said Kauffman. “As you go on these visits, you have to narrow down the pros and cons. The figure out the factors that are the most important to you and from there you make your decision.’

There were several things that drew Kauffman to Boston College. When she spoke to the coaches on the phone, and in person, they made her feel that she was wanted there. Another was that the coaching philosophies – it was what she was looking for. While on her visit to Boston College, Kauffman met with the athletic director and coaches who made her feel very welcomed on campus. She felt that it was a wonderful experience.

“The school itself is so beautiful. It’s just wonderful with the gothic buildings,’ said Kauffman. “When I met the team, they were like the coaches, so welcoming. The team portrayed the same feeling that the coaches did. I also like that it’s a very well known school for academics. They made the NCAA tournament this year so I’m really excited to help them to win the ACC championship.’

While on her unofficial visit to Boston College, Carly noticed was that the team always ate their meals together, not because they had to, but because they wanted to. They enjoy being together. Carly felt that they were very positive and upbeat.

Since Carly was in third grade, it’s been a dream of hers to play D-1 field hockey in college.

“The excitement of saying those words is crazy,’ said Kauffman. “As I’ve progressed through the years, I started to see the success that the other Oley girls have had, so I knew the dream could become a reality. The harder I worked and the harder we worked, you could see that it could become a reality.’

Going from Oley Valley High School to the D! level is a big jump, and a very surreal feeling for Kauffman. Everyone knows everyone in Oley, and she has close bonds because of a close community feel. She detected a little bit of that bond at Boston College. Even when Carly was on campus at BC, she felt that it didn’t seem like 10,000 people were on campus. She also has that family feel with her new teammates.

Some coaches don’t believe in giving freshman playing time, but Carly doesn’t seem very concerned about it. She knows that if she works hard enough, and proves to the coaches that she deserves to play, she’ll get playing time.

Carly isn’t nervous about the jump to the division one college level. She feels that their high school team was very competitive, not only in practice, but in games as well.

“We push each other to become better,’ said Kauffman. “We’ve all played at the club level. With my experience with the U.S. International team, I’ve had a chance to see the higher levels of play already. That will be the level that I’m playing at in college.’