SAN DIEGO -- Several RUSH Field Hockey seniors make their plans official to play field hockey at the collegiate level. The San Diego Hall of Champions hosted a National Signing Day event for the girls and other college bound athletes from high schools across San Diego County.

As of November, ten RUSH Field Hockey seniors will join college field hockey programs next fall with eight signing a National Letter of Intent.

A National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a binding contract between a student-athlete and institution confirming athletic scholarship money. Honorary contracts are provided to Division III programs whom are not permitted to offer athletic scholarships.

Surrounded by family and friends, each athlete--sporting gear from their future school-- signed their NLI or honorary contract and announced the university and new team they will soon play for.

However, not every RUSH player will have to bid each other good bye. In fact, six girls will continue to call each other teammates.

Tatiana Arias, Chelsea Bigelow, Farah Farjood and Sara Janetzky will play alongside each other at the University of California, Davis next fall. Their recruiting class includes just one other player from a California club.

At the University of California Berkeley, longtime RUSH teammates, Gabi Jimenez and Kyra Kent, will also continue to sport similar jerseys. At that time, Nina Randolph, will be across the bay playing for Stanford University embracing the strong rivalry to come.

Heather Brennan will travel to Massachusetts to play and study at Amherst College and likely compete against Shannon Yogerst, at Tufts University. Shannon will play for the same program her sister, Chelsea Yogerst, played for and helped capture the 2012 Division III national title.

Each year the girls on athletic scholarship will re-sign a contract outlining their athletic aid for that academic year and any additional scholarship money awarded. Each Division I Field Hockey program is given 12 full scholarships. Division II programs are given about six. Because NCAA Field Hockey is an equivalency sport, this means schools can divvy up their (12 or 6) scholarships however they want to the girls.

The average college field hockey roster holds 23 players. However, some teams carry a smaller roster to be able to offer more scholarship money to players.

Division III and club teams cannot provide athletic scholarships, but often help athletes find other available scholarships to apply for.

Questions and Comments: molly@rushfieldhockey.org

Congrats Girls:

  • Tatiana Arias - University of California, Davis
  • Chelsea Bigelow - University of California, Davis
  • Heather Brennan - Amherst College
  • Farah Farjood - University of California, Davis
  • Sara Janetzky - University of California, Davis
  • Gabi Jimenez - University of California, Berkeley
  • Kyra Kent - University of California, Berkeley
  • Mackenzie Peterson - Miami of Ohio University
  • Nina Randolph - Stanford University
  • Shannon Yogerst - Tufts University

If you have questions or comments contact Molly at molly@rushfieldhockey.org