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OCTOBER 2023 19 up to the U21 Junior National Team. When Madison began to look at the list of top re- cruits among the 2004-born age group, the name popped off the page. "I don't recall when I first made the con- nection, but it didn't take long," Madison said. "Not many people are called Trendler, and many of Aileen's classmates had chil- dren at about the same time. I knew a few of those kids were being recruited by other colleges." The name might have stuck out, but it was the skills on the pitch that moved her up to the top of Madison's recruit wish list. "You only have to see Dani once to see her athleticism and potential," Madison said. "I don't know her dad as well, but I do think she's just a balance of both of them. Dani's a little chill where Aileen is not chill at all. "Dani has incredible skill. She's a talented player who works hard. She's very unassum- ing. She's extremely humble. She doesn't want any attention. She just wants to make the team better. That's the character she as- sumes and that she lives every day." Madison was not the only coach looking to add Mendez-Trendler to their collegiate roster. In addition to her profile within the USA Field Hockey junior program, she was hardly flying under the radar having been named a 2021 first-team high school All- American by both the NFHCA and MAX Field Hockey, as well as that same year's All-Metropolitan Player of the Year. She was a highly sought-after recruit. Trying to decide which college she would attend was made even more difficult for her by the timing of her recruitment: dead cen- ter of the COVID-19 pandemic. "The recruiting process was definitely re- ally weird because I had my calls on Zoom and took online tours of campuses," Men- dez-Trendler said. "I thought Virginia had the best balance between social aspects and academics and sports. "Even just coming onto Grounds, it already felt really homey. I had a good feeling com- pared to the other schools that I visited. I felt Virginia was the best place for me as a per- son, and I thought that it would help me grow as an athlete, a student and a woman, too." Unlike her recruiting, the timing of the start of her collegiate career was ideal. She was a first-year in 2022, the season that COVID restrictions were lifted and games returned to normal. The team played a full schedule, the hardest in the nation according to strength of schedule, with Mendez-Trendler playing like anything but a newcomer. She was in the starting lineup for her collegiate debut at Penn State. By the first week of October, she was earning her first accolades, being named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week and Synapse Sports National Rookie of the Week. At the end of the season, she was named to the All-ACC first team, finishing second on the team in goals and points. Her point tally sat at 19, the same as the number she wears on her back. Mendez-Trendler was lauded as a 2022 NFHCA first-team All-Region honoree and was the sixth player in program history to be named an NFHCA All-American in her rookie season. She came into 2023 as a preseason All- ACC selection and has shown no signs of a second-year slump. Through the first month of the campaign, she 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). She has also continued to shine with the U.S. Junior National Team. She and her fel- low U21 teammates [including three of her current Cavalier teammates in Jans Croon, Madison Orsi and Mia Abello] won a gold medal at the Junior Pan Am Championships in April, taking down perennial powerhouse Argentina, a team they lost to in pool play, in the championship game. " It would be unbelievable for us to go to the Final Four. … 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. MENDEZ-TRENDLER