When Lies Lagerweij and Lieke Visser first arrived in the United States, what they found most baffling was the way Americans use peanut butter.

“There is peanut butter on everything,” Visser said, laughing.

Lagerweij, a forward, and Visser, a midfielder, are two of the four freshmen on the Syracuse field hockey team hailing from foreign countries. The two Netherland natives have helped build a strong freshman class that SU head coach Ange Bradley called the most talented she’s had.

Bradley said both players have the natural build and talent of professional field hockey players — although Lagerweij hasn’t had much opportunity on the field yet due to an injury.

Despite having grown up thousands of miles away, both players knew from a young age that they wanted to play in the states, specifically at Syracuse.

“This was my main goal. I never really considered anything else,” Visser said.

For these two players, the high caliber of both athletics and academics appealed to them. Even though they knew they wanted to play in the states, the recruitment process was a lengthy one.

“I’ve been busy with (being recruited) for two years,” Lagerweij said. “It’s a great opportunity to combine playing and studying like this.”

Lagerweij and Visser each worked with an agent throughout the recruitment process. Bradley first reached out to them by email and then followed that initial conversation with a Skype session.

Then Bradley and her assistant coach took the next step: boarding a flight to the Netherlands.

Though the program has welcomed many international players, Bradley said she and her staff don’t specifically search for recruits from across the Atlantic.

But for the past few years, that has meant having international players on the team. It’s something Bradley has grown accustomed to and has come to define the program.

“We just look to try and get the best players we can, and where they come from, that’s where they come from,” Bradley said. “One of the strengths of Syracuse hockey is that we are diverse.

“From my staff to our players, it makes us one family, the Syracuse family. Syracuse is bigger than all of us.”

Syracuse assistant coach Tara Zollinger said international players are often considered “hidden gems” in the eyes of recruiters. They often go unnoticed by other schools.

But bringing these new players abroad isn’t without its challenges.

One issue that many coaches, including Bradley, run into when recruiting outside of the U.S. is having to deal with different styles of play.

In the Netherlands, Bradley said, the athletes start playing at a younger age and practice two to three times a week with one game per weekend. But unlike the NCAA field hockey season, the athletes in the Netherlands maintain this type of schedule throughout the whole year.

Though the mentality is different than what Visser and Lagerweij are used to, they haven’t had to adapt much in terms of their style of plays.

“The systems are different, but they are overlapping,” Visser said. “My team back home played basically the same.”

In addition to adapting to U.S. portion sizes, each player has the occasional struggles with understanding American behavior.

“Everyone says, ‘Hey, how are you?’ and then just walks away,” said Lagerweij, referring to the way most students greet each other in passing.

In the Netherlands, greetings are a more structured ordeal, as opposed to the brusque American fashion.

But the difficulties are made easier by the fact that they have each other.

Said Lagerweij with a smile: “I can say Leike is one of my best friends here.”

Published on October 7, 2014 at 12:10 am

Contact Hanna: hrhorvat@syr.edu