Seventh grade. That’s when Taylor Brown joined the Covenant School’s varsity.
By default, she’s had one of the area’s longest prep careers and it’s been an extremely decorated one, including the VISAA Division 2 player of the year nod last fall that she earned for the state-runnerup Eagles.
Now she knows where the next chapter of that illustrious career will start.
Brown, a highly-regarded recruit in college field hockey circles, plans to head across town in the fall of 2012 to join the University of Virginia’s field hockey team. Brown verbally committed to the Cavaliers recently, becoming the first commitment in the class of 2012.
“I’ve just been going through the process slowly,” Brown said. “I just took my time and I knew (UVa making an offer) was just something I wanted to happen.”
It did recently, which left Brown with a (narrowed-down) choice between UVa and Miami of Ohio, an up and coming program that recently hired former Virginia associate head coach Iñako Puzo. While the Miami of Ohio program is an up-and-coming player in the college field hockey world, head coach Michelle Madison’s Cavaliers have been to two straight NCAA final fours, emerging as one of the nation’s preeminent programs.
“It came down to two schools that I had to think really hard about it,” Brown said. “It was two different situations, and it was a tough decision. But at the same time it was an easy decision.”
Virginia’s allure was too much for Brown, who grew up a fan of the Cavaliers, going to football games long before she plunged headlong into her field hockey career.
Brown’s one of only a handful of local hockey standouts to play for a high Division I program. In the last few years, Western Albemarle products Jordan Lynn and L.P. Desch headed to Villanova and Old Dominion respectively while former Albemarle goalie Cate Johnson will join William and Mary’s team this fall.
En route to being the VISAA Division II player of the year, the extraordinarily speedy Brown scored 30 goals and dished out 19 assists, emerging as a creator in the Covenant offense rather than just a pure scorer. Expanding her game made Brown — and in turn the Eagles — tougher to defend. She’s also been an All-League of Independent Schools honoree the last three years and participated in Futures Elite this year, a program that identifies the top 150 hockey players across the United States. She also picked up All-VISAA honors in lacrosse during the spring.
For Brown, in addition to the excitement of solidifying her future plans, there’s a more practical element to committing to the Cavaliers.
“I just feel a bit of relief so I don’t have to go through the process any more,” Brown said. “I can enjoy my senior year without having to write a bunch of essays and fill out applications.”
