{"id":15511,"date":"2022-06-13T15:42:38","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T19:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=15511"},"modified":"2023-08-04T09:26:07","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T13:26:07","slug":"forward-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/forward-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Forward Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Predictions in sports are always iffy. But Annick van Lange, a forward for Monmouth\u2019s field hockey team, seems certain of at least two things that will happen when her stellar, five-year career with the Hawks ends this fall. She\u2019s going to miss her teammates, many of whom have become like extended family. And, win or lose, when the horn sounds at the end of her final collegiate game, she\u2019s probably going to cry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has been such a big part of my life,\u201d says van Lange, who hails from Sint-Job-in-\u2019t-Goor, a small town in the province of Antwerp, Belgium. \u201cPlaying here has been such a great opportunity.\u201d She discussed the experience with us earlier this spring.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Van Lange started all 18 games for the Hawks last season and led the conference in goals (17) and points (39).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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On why she chose Monmouth. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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During my senior year of high school, my mom asked if I\u2019d be interested in playing field hockey and combining that with my studies in America. And I thought, Oh, that\u2019d be so cool\u2014but so unrealistic.<\/em> But I decided to give it a shot. I made a highlights video and sent that and my SAT scores to different schools. When Carli [Figlio], our head coach, contacted me, we had a lot of Zoom calls to get to know each other. Then I visited Monmouth during my senior year and fell in love with the place. The campus is so beautiful, and I had so much fun meeting the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On adjusting to life in America. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019d been to the U.S. once before for a family vacation to New York, but there definitely was still culture shock. I\u2019m glad that I came for summer school. I took two classes to get to know the campus and what it\u2019s like to be a student-athlete here. When preseason started, there were some more adjustments because I had never practiced two times a day for two weeks straight like that. And there were so many team meetings! <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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On her favorite classes. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m majoring in international business, and I really like my marketing classes. This year, I\u2019m taking Strategic Management with Professor Joseph Mosca. He divides us into groups, and we meet with executives from different companies. That\u2019s been a valuable experience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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On her game-day rituals. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I always wear the same red socks under my shin guards and make sure to put on my right sock and right shoe first. And I always eat half a banana during halftime; it\u2019s a little pick-me-up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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On being named Division I Eastern College Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s fun to be recognized like that, but at the end of the day, I feel like our focus should be on winning a championship. That\u2019s why we\u2019re all here. We got so close to winning an America East championship, so we still want revenge for that. Playing in the Colonial Athletic Association this fall will bring new challenges, but we\u2019re working hard and scrimmaging teams that we\u2019ll be playing this season. That\u2019s giving us a taste of what to expect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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On what she wants in addition to a championship. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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To get Monmouth\u2019s name out there. A lot of times people are like, Monmouth field hockey. What is that? D-2?<\/em> No, we\u2019re D-1. We\u2019re nationally ranked. I want other teams to think, Oh no, we\u2019re playing Monmouth. It\u2019s not going to be an easy game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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On the bonds she\u2019s made here. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I like the fact that my teammates come from all over the world and that there are so many different cultures represented. Everyone shares her input and that ultimately makes us better. It\u2019s what makes our team our team, and it\u2019s helped me to be open to new ideas. Right now, I\u2019m living in a house with five teammates, and we spend all our time together. We\u2019re never apart and we pick each other up when there are setbacks. I feel like that will be a big gap when I go back home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Star forward Annick van Lange talks changing conferences, what she\u2019ll miss most about Monmouth, and the two items she always brings to games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":15512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"{\"x\":34,\"y\":20}","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[94,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","category-play"],"thumbnail":"\"\"","catString":"Athletics, Play","issue":"Spring\/Summer 2022","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15511"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15982,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15511\/revisions\/15982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}