By Andrew Smith
The field hockey team has enjoyed much success during this season. They are poised to secure a playoff spot and are currently leading the conference and total goals with 68. Sophomore Faith Dillion has played a tremendous role in the team’s current success.
Dillion has always been around field hockey; she started playing when she was eight. She lived in Maine where she played in the youth program that her mother ran as part of the high school team she coached. From there, she transitioned to playing in middle school, travel, high school and now at the collegiate level.
Dillion credits her mother and high school coaches as inspirational figures in her athletic career. Up until she began seventh grade, her mother would bring her to practices at the high school. Dillion explained, “I started playing in the youth program through my mom's high school and fell in love with the sport after that.”
For Dillion, inspiration is a key part of her life. “My two high school coaches were big contributors to the successes I've had with field hockey and life,” she said. “I knew the head coach since I was in elementary school because she coached my hometown team while my mom coached the next town over. The assistant coach was also my mom's college best friend and they played against each other in high school.”
She described her coaches as “second moms” as they were always there for her and served as key role models in her life.
She added, “We have always been super close and they have helped me immensely navigate life and for that, I am forever grateful. I also look up to one of the graduates from my high school, Hannah Brown, who was a captain of the USA's indoor field hockey team. I've known her since I was little and I get to see her almost every summer at our alumni game. She's an incredible field hockey player and has allowed me to use her as a reference when it came to finding a college team to play for.”
Dillion said she enjoys participating in many community service events within her town. “I'm excited to get involved in community service as well as having games for different causes such as Tunnels 2 Towers, Island Harvest and our Breast Cancer game. I also am just excited to be a part of the team. Our coaching staff is so amazing and the girls on the team are some of the best people I have ever met. Being a part of the Adelphi Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is also exciting. I love getting involved in as much as I can so I'm pretty pumped about that. Representing Maine is also pretty awesome.”
At Adelphi, Dillion is an environmental studies major in the STEP program and plans to become an earth science teacher. She chose to become a Panther because “it seemed like the perfect fit and size.”
“After my overnight stay with the team I knew that it would be a great fit for me,” she said. “Everyone on the team was so nice and funny, and they were the ones who really made me come to the decision to commit. I also wanted to go to school far away from home, but if I wanted to drive home, I could. I also have family who live nearby so if I ever needed anything I could go to them.”
Dillion added she has enjoyed her time at Adelphi so far and looks forward to seeing what comes her way next.
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