Few high school students are granted the opportunity to attend an Ivy League school, while even fewer get to attend an Ivy League school on a scholarship.
State College Area High School senior Paige Meily will be doing both next fall when she attends the University of Pennsylvania on a field hockey scholarship.
Meily started at center midfield her senior season with the Little Lions and was a crucial part of the team that came one goal short of winning the District 6 title game. Co-captain Meily collected 16 goals and eight assists under first-year head coach Chelsea Cummins.
“When you get down to the Xs and Os of hockey, she is very smart,” says Cummins. “You can tell she’s a great player; she’s smart in the classroom and smart on the field.”
Cummins, an alumna of Ohio University’s Division I field hockey team, strongly believes her first-ever team captain will be successful at the collegiate level.
“I think she will be great, if she just sticks to what she knows and sticks to what she’s been doing,” predicts Cummins. “She needs to continue to always look to improve and always look to learn from as many people as she can.”
Meily recently returned from her official visit to Penn. “It was nice to be able to hang out with the current players and also the other incoming (freshman) so we could all get to know each other,” she recalls.
On her trip, the Mid-Penn Conference All-Star got together with the other recruits and the current team for ice skating, dinner and hanging out. “The campus is unique because its so pretty, but all set in a city,” says Meily. The 215-year-old school is set in the heart of Philadelphia.
Quakers head coach Colleen Fink played a large part in the 17-year-old’s decision. “I think it was mainly coach Fink’s honesty about her interest in me and how the program runs at UPenn,” says Meily.
The young fifth-year coach has improved the team greatly and in the past three years has a 30-21 record, which is a drastic improvement from her first two years, when the team was 7-27.
“She (Fink) also did comment on the opportunity of attending an Ivy League university over any other university,” says Meily, who has played for the State College Blue Lions Field Hockey Club for five years.
Meily, a high honor roll student, was initially recruited by Lafayette College before the Quakers stepped in.
“The academics played a huge role in my decision on UPenn,” Meily says. “It was impossible for me to pass up the opportunity to get an education from such a good school and also be able to play field hockey.”
However, she was admittedly not always as interested in field hockey.
“My sister has really played a huge role. She was the reason, at first, I didn’t want to play field hockey, but in the end she was the reason I did want to play,” says Meily. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to be compared to her, but after watching her play many games and tournaments I realized how interested I was in playing.”
Meily’s sister, Taylor Meily, is currently a freshman at the University of Delaware, where she plays field hockey for the Blue Hens.
“She taught me a lot of skills and pushed me to work harder because of the sister competition, but it’s made me a better player.”
