The One You Never Saw Coming

A Division I athlete's story usually follows a formula. She plays a sport for countless hours growing up, honing her craft through passion and dedication. The long hours pay off as she discovers a game's idiosyncracies. The right coach who can refine those skills comes along and the pedigree creates itself. Her recruitment is the culmination of all those years of hard work.

Then an athlete comes along and obliterates the formula.

Boston College field hockey's Lucy Lytle is in the midst of a breakout sophomore campaign. Her eight goals are tied for the team lead, and she enters Sunday's game with seven goals in her last seven games. Of her 19 shots, all but three are on goal, with 42 percent finding the back of the net. She's fast becoming a name to recognize on the field, and she's forced teams to take note of where she is at all times.

Not bad for someone who didn't play the sport before her freshman year of high school.

"I grew up playing ice hockey and I didn't pick up field hockey until I was in high school," said Lytle, "I realized during my sophomore year that I was able to have success, so I joined USA Field Hockey's Futures Program, and every year I just kept moving up. When I signed up, we were playing on grass fields, and then I wound up playing on the U-19 national team. So I was recruited entirely on my Futures experience and didn't play on a club team."

For Lytle, the recruitment process came down to the wire. Faced with a decision of playing Division I field hockey or Division III field hockey and lacrosse, she had to decide if she would be a multisport athlete or abandon her other loves for a chance to compete as a field hockey player in the ACC.

"I could have played both field hockey and lacrosse in Division III," said Lytle, "But I realize that playing Division I is the best competition, and I'm a really competitive person. In order to play against the best, I would need to play one sport at Division I."

"When we first started recruiting her, we noticed her speed first," BC head coach Kelly Doton said. "She was a real athlete with incredible quickness in her hands. She was still very raw, but we saw the potential there for development. As a sophomore, we still have plenty of time left with her, even though it feels like she's been here for years already."

In making her college choice, Lytle debated and eventually wound up choosing Boston College. Despite being a native of Illinois, she went to high school at Deerfield Academy in Western Massachusetts. "I went to school in rural western Massachusetts," she said, "I knew that I wanted to be in a city. I also knew that I didn't want to play in hot weather, and academics were really important to me. So BC is a perfect match; we play in the most competitive field hockey league, and we get to play in colder temperatures later in the year."

Her competitive nature can be seen in her style of play. Without the same development pedigree of others in the sport, Lytle plays the grinder status to perfection. With that type of edge, she's able to fight for goals in front, something more commonly seen in her ice hockey background. Camped out in front of the cage, it becomes a battle of wills - one the diminutive 5-foot-1 sophomore is more than willing to fight.

Self-described as scrappy, Lytle proposes what it's like to stand in front of a net and fight for goals, scoring - as she puts it - "not fancy goals."

"The first time you're on the field, it's like everyone says - there's a lot of shock when you're not the superstar anymore," she said. "I was getting knocked around by bigger defenders, and the ball moves faster. It was something that I really had to get used to."

"Her work ethic is unmatched," said BC head coach Kelly Doton. "She is one of the hardest workers on the team, and she just keeps getting better where we know she will get to that point we want her to be at. Lucy doesn't know how to not work on the field, and she's one of our leaders already."

"Coach likes to tell me that I do a lot of unnecessary running," Lytle explained, "Because I have speed, and I love to just keep moving fast (on the field)."

If it were just about on-field exploits, it would be a unique story unto itself. But it's off the field where Lytle has also made an impact. This summer, she spent eight weeks studying in Beijing, China, taking classes in the Far East, furthering an interest that started in her pre-teen years.

"I started (learning Chinese) in high school because everyone said it was hard to learn," said Lytle. "I'm pretty fluent now in listening, and my vocabulary is proficient. The writing is tough, but I'm pretty determined to become fluent."

As for the rest of this year, the statistics are nice, but there's only one thing that matters. In the words of the late Al Davis: just win, baby.

"Our goal as a team the rest of the season is to win games," said Lytle. "We've had some huge wins already against both Stanford and North Carolina. But we need to keep winning to put ourselves in a position that we want to be in. Each game, that's going to be our goal, and hopefully we can make that happen."

Players Mentioned

Lucy Lytle

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