Ang Hays had tried different sports growing up, but she didn’t find one that stuck until she found field hockey.
She didn’t have much time with the sport, but she had enough to get noticed by Seton Hill and signed her letter of intent to play there starting next season.
Hays admitted leaving California is going to be hard, but she said she couldn’t pass up a chance to play with the high level of competition the East Coast has to offer.
“When they were talking about teamwork and how all the girls are connected and how the coaches are like mothers and aunts to them,” Hays said. “Because I’m going to be home sick, I want that family unit with me.”
But she won’t be alone.
Hays has a club former teammate who attends Seton Hill in Greensburg, Penn.
Giovanna Cimino, a 2015 Live Oak graduate, joined the team this past year as a freshman.
Hays got on Seton Hill’s radar over Thanksgiving while competing at the National Festival.
She visited within a month—in the snow—and fell in love with the school.
At first her mom tried to talk her out of going because they both knew she would be home sick.
But Hays said when the offer came in she couldn’t pass on it.
Hays started playing just before her freshman year of high school and fell in love with the sport quickly.
At first she didn’t want to play, but her mom encouraged her and it helped that she met her coach Adam Gemar who has worked with her for four and a half years.
And competing with and against her teammates and friends made it so much easier too.
“We’ve been really close nit and competitive with each other,” Hays said. “And just the prospect of getting a D-I scholarship or any scholarship even if you played at a later date like me was very intriguing to me.”
For Hays more than the success she’s had at Gilroy she said she’s going to take and cling to the supportive nature of her teammates and will remember how they encouraged her to keep going.
“The fact that in practice, the girls always push each other and tell each other that we can do better,” Hays said. “You can get to the next level if you try. It really helped me and I know a lot of other girls to continue to keep playing. … Everyone sticks together and we love playing together.”
