Longwood field hockey captain, Edel Nyland, has now returned from Valencia, Spain after playing for Ireland’s U-21 team.
The process for making the U-21 team dated to Thanksgiving break last year after her season had concluded.
“Over Christmas, I trained once with them, and they were happy enough with me, and said to keep training, and see where we were at,” said Nyland.
When summer came, Nyland got to show off her talent in games against Wales and Scotland. After each series of games, the roster began to shrink.
As summer came to a close and her return to Longwood neared, Nyland said she needed to ask if she would be on the final roster.
“So I sat down with the coach after the Scotland games, and they said they would like me to be involved with the team, and then it was a bunch of training,” she said.
The 2017 Eurohockey Junior Championships saw Ireland face tough international competition in England, France, Germany and Spain, leaving Ireland without any wins and only one goal scored.
However, when reflecting on her experience, Nyland said, “It’s hard sometimes when you’re caught up in the process, and you’re concentrating on tactics, fitness, and everything else to remember that this is really cool. Like, I’m wearing a green shirt, and it has my name on the back.”
Playing for the U-21 team wasn’t Nyland’s first experience representing her country, as she also played on the U-16 team. “I played on the 16 team, but I don’t feel that was representative of who I am now, because it was so long ago.”
Field hockey coach Iain Byers said, “Higher competition makes anyone better, so I think her coming back from an experience like that, against a level like that is great for her. It’s also great for us, because now she can bring that intensity and approach to our practices.”
Nyland echoed those thoughts, explaining how it helped her on and off the field, as she was “serving two masters.”
“It definitely helped with my coordination, and my time balancing,” she said. “Also, just playing against such a high standard and going against the best players in the world has been great for my game.”
While Nyland was overseas, the field hockey team has gotten out to their best start in program history at a 4-0 mark.
Nyland said, “My role on the team hasn’t really changed from last year, and the girls see me as the same person. So I’m just hoping to slot back in, and keep going on with the season.”
Nyland did get her first collegiate action of the season on Friday, Sept. 8, as she drew the start against the Liberty Flames. She played 56 of the possible 70 minutes, and led the Lancers on multiple scoring opportunities, one of which resulted in a goal from Leonie Verstraete.
The Lancers did suffer their first loss of the season, by a score of 3-2. After the game though, Nyland said, “It felt great to be back, it really felt natural to come back in. We won’t take this lose as a hit, we’ll learn from it, and as we say, fail forward.”
Nyland said she was optimistic about the rest of the season .
“Since my freshman year, because we had such a big incoming class, we were a developmental team, but every year we’ve on the rise,” she said. “This season, I think it’ll be the combination of that and make it, as they say, ‘a ring season.’”
Nyland and the rest of the field hockey team will play host LIU Brooklyn on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 12 p.m.
After playing for Ireland's U21 National team, Longwood field hockey senior captain returned to the field to start her final season against Liberty University on Friday, Sept. 8.
