Locked in on some homework on a recent evening, Elsie Lakin-Schultz got a knock at her door from her mother, Kate.
Carrying her laptop, Kate pulled up an email. Elsie, a 15-year-old Belmont High School sophomore, stared at her mother’s screen, partly with disbelief, partly with excitement and relief. USA Field Hockey selected her for the Junior U.S. Women’s U-16 National Team.
“I was just in shock,” she recalled. “It was such a long process, and to make it was an incredible feeling.”
Though Lakin-Schultz first picked up an ice hockey stick at age six, it’s the 5-foot-10 defender’s skills with the field hockey stick that led to her national notice.
In less than three years, Lakin-Schultz transformed from a field hockey novice to one of the nation’s top players in the Class of 2027. In addition to the national team nod, MAX Field MAX Field Hockey recently named her a top-50 recruit in the Class of 2027.
Lakin-Schultz’s field hockey career began in earnest as an eighth-grader, when she was one of a handful of peers selected for the BHS freshman team. She soon joined the Bedford-based East Coast Wizards club team to continue honing her skills, and has started every game during her two-year BHS varsity career.
Lakin-Schultz earned captain designation as a sophomore and helped lead the team to the MIAA Division 1 Round of 8. Lakin-Schultz helped softball as a first baseman and third baseman to the state tournament as a freshman and ice hockey to the Round of 8 each of the past two seasons as a defender. Even as her year-round field hockey career ramps up, Lakin-Schultz plans to play three sports throughout her BHS career.
BHS field hockey coach Jess Smith knew Lakin-Schultz from playing ice hockey with her daughter Mia. She encouraged Lakin-Schultz to try it out. The rest is history.
“I think she had a leg up on field hockey from being an ice hockey player for so many years, and if you watch her, she plays similarly in both games,” Smith said. “Right away, field hockey was a natural sport for her. She’s happy to carry the ball but also awesome at seeing the pass.”
She plays “loosely,” on the field, in a good way, the coach said, and isn’t afraid to break out a celebratory dance move.
The national team path began last spring, when Lakin-Schultz joined USA Field Hockey’s Nexus program. Open to any field hockey athletes, Nexus provides opportunities for players starting at the local level up through the national circuit. Lakin-Schultz impressed along the way, first at three local weekend tournaments, then to the regional level. Her team later won the Nexus championship in Virginia Beach, Virginia, resulting in qualification for the Junior Olympics, where she caught the attention of USA Field Hockey and garnered an invitation for the national team tryouts. Her status means she gets to skip local and regional Nexus events and head straight to the championships in future years. Other Belmont players participate in Nexus, too.
USA Field Hockey hosted three-day national team tryouts in December and February on the campus of UNC Charlotte, whittling down the roster from 100 to about 60 to the final 28.
“Honestly, I was really nervous because I didn’t have those experiences before and haven’t really been playing field hockey that long compared to some of those girls who have been playing all their lives,” Lakin-Schultz said. “I just tried to make the most of it and work as hard as I possibly could and show them who I am as a player.”
Up next on the USA circuit: attend a team training camp later this month, again in North Carolina. The goal: selection to an international tournament. Lakin-Schultz did not make the 16-player “tour roster” for the April’s 6 Nations Tournament in Valencia, Spain, which also included players from the U18 team. U16-only tournaments in the Netherlands in April and South Africa in May remain in her reach.
The college recruiting process is somewhat underway, but Division I coaches cannot contact her directly until June 15. Her high school and club coaches are in contact with many top-flight programs already.
“Every sort of play we have on the field, she’s part of it,” Smith said. “Regionally, there aren’t many forwards that can get by her” except for Belmont teammate and UConn commit Mackenzie Clarke, sometimes. They practice hard against each other.”
Lakin-Schultz admits her rapid field hockey ascension was a bit of a “surprise” given her relative newness to the sport.
How did it happen? Perhaps her first sport played a role.
“Honestly, I’m not even sure, but I feel like my ice hockey skills really translated to field hockey,” Lakin-Schultz said. “It’s really helped me with learning the sport and getting a lot better super quickly … in a way, they’re super similar.”
