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cavalier sports DECEMBER 2019 7 BUILD YOUR WEALTH WITH A FULL FIDUCIARY Stuart F. Pierson, Jr. Owner & Founder, MS Tax Piedmont Capital Asset Management LLC VISIT MY BLOG: The Wealth Dimension 800-369-7210 Toll Free 434-987-3316 Charlottesville, VA s p i e r s o n @ p i e d m o n t c a p i t a l . n e t • M Y P I E D M O N T C A P I TA L . C O M Piedmont Capital Asset Management LLC A Registered Investment Advisor N adine de Koning and Emilie van Zinnicq Bergmann grew up 48 miles apart in The Netherlands. Both played field hockey at the nation's highest level, but they never played on the same team or against one another. The two did not meet until they were re- cruited to UVA in 2014. These Dutch natives are two of the 23 international players that head coach Michele Madison has brought to Charlottesville since her arrival in 2005. International players have been a big part of UVA's suc- cess during Madison's time. It's paid off because the Hoos have earned 12 NCAA Tourna- ment berths in her 14 seasons. On Nov. 17, UVA garnered the team's third trip to the NCAA semifinals under Madison and the program's fifth overall. The coach thinks one of the benefits to bringing foreign play- ers in is to assimilate the diver- sity of their game and techniques with the Virginia program. "I like to keep a nice balance because they are learning from each other," the Hall of Fame honoree said. "It's an educational university and I believe we can't play interna- tional teams, so the best way to learn from each other is to bring the international to us. They have strengths that we don't have and we have strengths that they don't have, and to mesh it together is kind of cool." One might think recruiting overseas might be more challenging, but that's not necessarily true. "There's not a lot of differ- ence," Madison said. "It's the same kind of scouting. How of- ten you see them in person is dif- ferent, but they play in so many leagues at so many levels that you can almost tell which levels can compete in Division I ACC. You make contact; I like to try and get them on campus. I like to visit them in their hometown and see how they live." Fenna Breitbarth was Madi- son's initial international recruit and the first of 13 from The Netherlands in 2006. Madison has routinely returned to recruit there. UVA has drawn the greatest number of foreign recruits (13) from that country. The country's national women's field hockey team is currently ranked No. 1 by the International Hockey Federation and is the reigning world champion. Recruits have also come from Germany (two), Scotland (one), England (two), Aus- tralia (three), New Zealand (one) and Canada (one). These recruits include four All-Ameri- cans — Lucy Hyams, Pien Dicke, Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn and four-time honoree Elly Buck- ley. Hyams and Dicke were both named ACC Freshman of the Year. The current UVA team includes five for- eign-born players: fourth-year Anzel Viljoen (New Zealand), second-year Amber Ezechiels (Netherlands), and first-years Cato Geusgens (Netherlands), Laura Janssen (Netherlands) and Danielle Husar (Canada). Madison said one advantage for interna- tional players is they start a lot earlier. "Because guys play, they have a lot of co-ed stuff," the coach added. "They can watch the guys play; they can watch hockey a lot more because it's in a cold structure. Hockey's kind of a family thing, a friend thing. It's not so much [tied] to school or university." — Greg Waters ANZEL VILJOEN behind the scenes Field Hockey's International Pipeline PHOTO COURTESY UVA