W. Lax alum named to US Dev. Team

Emily Hansel loves Penn. Her undergraduate experience as a student-athlete literally altered the direction of her life.

Hansel is a graduate assistant women's lacrosse coach at Penn State. She was recently named to the USA Women's Lacrosse Developmental Team, which is essentially a tryout for the National team.

The kicker is that Hansel had never played lacrosse before she arrived at Penn.

"I came to Penn primarily to play field hockey and track," Hansel said. "But [Coach Anne] Sage was the coach of both field hockey and lacrosse at the time and she encouraged me to try out for lacrosse. What can I say? It was life-changing."

Hansel was a natural, apparently, as she grabbed a spot on the All-Ivy second team her freshman year. She earned that status every season until she was a senior, when she made the first team. Hansel was also named the Quakers co-MVP her junior and senior seasons.

Those four short seasons were the beginning of what Hansel hopes will be a long career in amateur lacrosse.

"The great thing about being a coach here [at Penn State] is that I can play pretty much all the time," said Hansel, who is working toward her master's degree in Forestry.

Hansel's road to her second selection on the US Developmental Team was a long one. The club team that she plays on attended an annual event known simply as the "National Tournament," where the best club and high school teams in the nation compete in front of a selection committee.

The players chosen there are invited -- along with collegiate All-Americans -- to attend a tryout. Hansel's second selection to the team is even more of an honor than her first because the competition has gotten tougher and the selection process is run more smoothly.

"It's changed a little bit," Hansel said. "There are a lot more playing dates, it's more organized. It's also a bigger deal, because the World Cup is coming next year."

The purpose of the developmental team is to promote lacrosse in places the sport hasn't yet reached -- such as the West and Midwest -- by playing exhibition games and holding clinics.

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