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20 CAVALIER CORNER "It was a pretty surreal moment, winning the gold," Mendez-Trendler said "It didn't feel real. Argentina has always been known to be such a great team. They are very skilled and it's always high competition with them. "After we lost to them the first time, I was a little nervous about playing them again in the championship, but we just were calm and composed. We told ourselves to just play our game and just play the way the USA plays. Getting the gold was really rewarding. All that hard work and sacrifice for many months was definitely worth it in the end. "Being able to represent your country, but also representing your college, really brings so much pride out in you, and it's just an amazing feeling." Mendez-Trendler, Croon, Abello and Orsi will have another opportunity to represent the red, white and blue, and the Cavaliers, on the world stage in December when they play in the 2023 Junior World Cup in Santiago, Chile. All four have already been named to the roster for the U.S. U21 team. Having selected Virginia for its academ- ics as well as athletics, Mendez-Trendler is also making the most of those opportuni- ties. She plans to major in biology, pre-med track, which she knows will be a difficult endeavor, but she is up for the challenge. "I feel like everyone around me, espe- cially my teammates, also want to excel and have the same aspirations of being successful outside of the field, which is re- ally motivating," she said. "Having that envi- ronment and being around it is really uplift- ing, and it makes me want to work harder." Field hockey is not the only thing to run in the family. Her father, Pedro, is a doctor and Aileen is a nurse anesthetist at Johns Hopkins. Her older brother, Antonio, is also pre-med. There is one other thing that she now also hopes runs in the family: making a Final Four and winning a national champi- onship. "In middle school, I didn't really know what playing at the DI level in college meant," she said. "I really had no idea until I played club, and then I began to under- stand what my mom had accomplished. " When I was in high school, she gained some more respect from me after I watched some of her film from her playing days. I would laugh at her and the style back then was way different from now, but hearing about how she also played under Coach Madison and won a national championship and was in the Final Four every year. I gave her a lot of respect. It's awesome for her, too. And she got to pass field hockey down to me as well. "It would be unbelievable for us to go to the Final Four. I already have so much hope for us as a team. This year just feels so much different, potential-wise. We've already come out so hot during the start of our season. I just hope that we only grow as a team and just get better every day." For Madison, coaching one of her former players' daughters is "cool and special." "When I see the two of them together, that is when it really strikes me," Madison said. "How was it that long ago that I coached Aileen? It seems like just yesterday instead of 40 years ago. Seeing her after the games stirs up fun memories. "Right now, I am excited about working with Dani and watching her realize her po- tential. The sky is the limit for her." Through the first month of the 2023 campaign, Mendez-Trendler led the team in points (14) and ranked in the top 10 in the ACC in all three offensive categories — points, goals (5) and assists (4). (Photo by Matt Riley/courtesy UVA athletics)