Fairfax Station Grad Shining in College Level Athletics

When Fairfax Station's Maddy Tettelbach stepped onto the La Salle University campus in Philadelphia to join the field hockey team, she had high aspirations for her future with the Explorers somewhere down the line.

"I was just expecting to learn so much from the upperclassmen and from practices and maybe get some playing time my sophomore year or at the end of my freshman year, get the chance to play," Tettelbach said heading into La Salle's 2-1 overtime win.  

But she found out right away what La Salle coach Michelle Marks thought of her when she started her team's first scrimmage, despite being on a team returning six starters from 2010. And although she's yet to start a game, she has received quality playing time as a freshman.  

"She's an athlete. Maddy's got good speed and strong instincts. She played field hockey and soccer in high school and she's taken a lot of her soccer skills and knowledge and used that on the field hockey field," Marks said. "She has a knack for the goal and she seems to be at the right place at the right time."  

Marks' inclinations were right on the money. The South County grad opened the season with five goals in the team's first six games as she was named the Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Week for the first two weeks of the season.  

Tettelbach credits her early success on the field to her time in both club and high school field hockey, where she learned from veteran South County coach Leah Conte, a member of the 2008 U.S. Indoor National Field Hockey team, and coach Starr Karl, a legendary field hockey fixture in northern Virginia for the last quarter century.  

"(Coach Conte) taught me everything I've needed to know since eighth grade," Tettelbach says. "A lot of my skills developed from her and she helped me not just during practices, but over the summers and whenever I asked for more time. She would always help me with things. We talked about everything I needed to know and what it would be like at this level.  

"I think my high school and club teams prepared me so much for playing at the college level. Everything totally led me the right direction."  

La Salle provided everything she was looking for when looking to continue her education. Tettelbach was looking for a small school with limited class sizes and says she enjoyed her time during her first visit to campus with the field hockey players.  

"I really loved coach Marks," Tettelbach says. "She was so nice and welcomed me here. After my first visit and seeing the campus, I loved everything about it. With all of the things I was looking for all put together in one place, I really wanted to come here."  

And according to her mother Peggy, it was Maddy and her father who found La Salle.

The freshman, the second of four children, shares a special bond with her father Clay, who is a captain in the United States Navy. He has been stationed in Baghdad, Iraq, since April but exchanges emails with his daughter daily, talking about practices, games, classes and everything else going on in her life.  

"I know he's very proud of me." Maddy says. "I send him links to any stories and he knows everything that is going on."  

"She's definitely Daddy's Maddy," Peggy says of the closeness between her daughter and husband.  

And although her dad has not been able to, her mom has attended a few games, including the Explorers' opener where she scored two goals in her collegiate debut during a 4-1 win at Georgetown. The trip into Washington D.C. will be the shortest trip the Tettelbach family will have for a game this season.  

Since the win, La Salle is 2-5, including back-to-back overtime losses at Lehigh and against Towson.  

"We've been playing really good hockey and getting plenty of opportunities in front of the cage. These games count but this is a building block as we head toward play in the conference," Marks said.  

And Tettelbach is eager to continue to contribute.  

"I didn't even expect to play my first year on campus because of all the talented players with a lot of upperclassmen," she says, "but I'm really thankful just to get the chance to play."