Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Announces 2016 Signing Class
5/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeHockey)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest field hockey head coach Jennifer Averill announced the addition of seven signees that will join the program for the 2016 season on Wednesday. Isla Bint, Dana Bozek, Kelsey Gill, Emma Cate Graham, Lucy McKee, Jess Pianko and Nicola Pluta will don the Old Gold and Black this coming fall.
"It is with great pleasure that Barb (Weinberg), Rich (Sutton) and I announce the newest Deacons members and their families to the Wake Forest field hockey program," Averill said. "These seven women exemplify great character and ability. We welcome their collective passion and desire to compete at the highest level."
Bint is the lone goalkeeper in the incoming class. The Auckland, New Zealand native attended St Cuthbert's College and has an impressive resume that includes leading her school to four top-three national finishes, including a first-place finish in 2012. Bint is a four-time St. Cuthbert's Sports Colours Award winner and won ASB Young Sportsperson of the Year Hockey Award in 2014.
She was also her team's MVP in 2015, represented New Zealand at the Youth Olympics and has been a New Zealand Future Blacksticks squad selection.
Bozek is a midfielder who captained Lakeland High School in Shrub Oak, N.Y. for two seasons and helped the Hornets extend their New York Class B state championship run to seven years as a five-year letterwinner.
After earning NFHCA Third Team All-American honors in 2013, Bozek tacked on first-team honors in both 2014 and 2015. She was also named the Journal News Westchester/Putnam Field Hockey Player of the Year in 2015 and twice earned the MSG Varsity Tri-State Player of the Year award. In addition to playing for her school, Bozek competed for the Hudson Valley Field Hockey Club.
Gill was a four-year starter, two-time MVP and senior captain at Kentucky Country Day School. She was picked for the state tournament team three times, was a Junior and Senior All-Star Team selection and was a Miss Kentucky Field Hockey Nominee. Additionally, Gill was a two-time NFHCA All-American nominee, an NFHCA All-Regional Team honoree and a NFHCA All American Academic Team member.
The Louisville, Ky. midfielder also played for the International Field Hockey Club of Kentucky for eight years and was selected to three-consecutive National Futures Championship teams and six-straight National Indoor Tournament teams.
Graham, whose sister Lindsay will be a senior for the Deacons in 2016, attended Episcopal High School in Houston, Texas. She is a two-time All-Southwest Preparatory Conference honoree and in 2016, was named the Knights' MVP. Graham was also a USA Field Hockey and MAX Field Hockey all-region selection. MAX chose her as a top-100 member of the class of 2016.
A native of Houston, Texas, Graham played at the club level for the Texas Pride. The forward/midfielder was a part of the National Futures Championship in 2014 and 2015, was a 2015 Futures Elite Academy selection and a 2014 Junior Olympic selection.
McKee is a forward who comes to Winston-Salem from Newry, Northern Ireland. She attended Banbridge Academy in Banbridge, Northern Ireland and the University of Bristol in Bristol, England. She has represented Ulster and Ireland in field hockey at the under-16, under-18 and under-21 levels.
McKee competed for Ireland in four European championships and took part in the Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010. She comes from a family of accomplished field hockey players. Her parents, Glenda and John, and her brother, Johnny, have played for Ireland. Her sister, Katie, also represented Ulster and Ireland, captaining the Irish under-16 squad.
Pianko, a four-year starter at Freehold High School in New Jersey, earned all-state, All-North Shore conference, A-North Shore All-Star and All-Freehold Regional High School District accolades multiple times. The forward was selected to both the under-16 and under-19 U.S. National Futures Championships after serving as an under-16 alternate in 2013.
Hailing from Red Bank, N.J., Pianko competed at the club level for Jersey Intensity, which qualified twice for the National Club Championships, had three top-three regional finishes and won the 2013 Under-16 National Hockey Festival. Pianko was the fourth-leading scorer in the Junior Premier Outdoor League in 2014.
Pluta is another international signee for the Deacs, coming to Wake Forest from Stiftisches Humanistisches Gymnasium in Moenchengladbach, Germany. She was the team captain for the under-16 girls national team 2014 and was named a top-four player at the German National Championships in 2014 and 2015.
A forward and midfielder who also finished seventh at the tennis national championships in 2014, Pluta received honors for her play at the federal states under-16 field hockey national championships three years in a row from 2012-14.
The Demon Deacons are coming off a 13-6 campaign in 2015 that included a 4-2 mark in the ACC. They will begin their season in August with a pair of home exhibitions against James Madison before kicking off the regular season on August 27 by hosting Iowa in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
