Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1508482
18 CAVALIER CORNER Last season, Mendez-Trendler was named to the All-ACC first team after finishing second on the team in goals (8) and points (19). (Photo by Matt Riley/courtesy UVA athletics) Mendez-Trendler began playing sports at the age of 8, specifically soccer, which she did not enjoy. She knew her mother had played field hockey, so she thought she would give it a try. "My mom was actually taken aback when I said I wanted to play field hockey," Men- dez-Trendler recalled. "But I proved to her that I was actually really committed to try and learn. So, we'd go on the driveway and hit around to teach me stick work." The driveway clinics paid off, and within two years Mendez-Trendler began to stand out in the sport, especially in her native Baltimore. "I just really loved it," she said. "My teammates and my coaches for the rec team I played for were really passionate with me as well as with the sport. So, they just kept pushing me." By the eighth grade, her star was shining brightly, and she followed her mother's footsteps into the USA Field Hockey junior system. She made the U14 Junior Indoor National Team, which led to other camps and stints on the age-level junior outdoor teams. She was a senior in high school when she got pulled SHINING STAR Field Hockey Standout Daniela Mendez-Trendler Is Making Her Mark For The Cavaliers And The National Team BY MELISSA DUDEK T he recruiting process starts early for elite athletes, with the na- tion's top prospects verbally committing to colleges at very young ages. For Virginia field hockey second-year midfielder Daniela Men- dez-Trendler, who was born in 2004, her recruitment had its start in 1986. Aileen Trendler, Daniela's mother, was a star field hockey player at the University of Iowa. The first-team All-American played for the Hawkeyes from 1986-89, going to four straight Final Fours and winning the NCAA title in 1986. Virginia head coach Michele Madison was an assistant coach at Iowa for three of those four seasons, including the 1986 title run. Trendler was in Madison's second recruiting class. "Dani's mom was a bodybuilder," Madison recalled. "She was just rock solid at a time when weightlifting was just starting for women's teams. She was also very determined. She had a really infectious laugh, but she was so serious. She always gave a hundred percent, very much like Dani."