No. 2 Maryland field hockey’s Maddie Vasilios is scoring goals, internships and praise from those around her.
Her head coach, Missy Meharg, summed her up perfectly.
“She is absolutely everybody’s go-to person on the team to feel good, to laugh and to get that confidence from a friend, from a Terp and from a senior,” Meharg said. “The cool thing about Maddie right now is that she is playing the best hockey she has ever played since she has been here.”
Field hockey is undoubtedly one of the most important
parts of Vasilios’ life. This season, the senior has set career highs in starts, minutes, goals and shots for one of the top-ranked Division I field hockey teams. However, she has made sure to spread her wings elsewhere.
Ever since arriving in College Park, the Clarksville, Maryland, native has put herself in the best position to succeed after graduation.
“I’ve always been having the mindset of what’s next, post-graduation and after college,” Vasilios said. “I think my parents and my brother have a huge impact on that, just making sure that I had a plan for postgrad.”
Like her father and brother, Vasilios is hoping to pursue a career in the financial industry. So far, she has already completed two internships: one as a commercial banking intern with WesBanco and the other as an audit intern with Ellin & Tucker.
Both positions were facilitated by her involvement in Maryland Made, the University of Maryland’s student-athlete development program. It has three pillars: career readiness, leadership education, and self-discovery.
“It’s really anything that’s not sport and not school,” said Colby Wilson, assistant director of student-athlete development. “It’s really helping our students be who they are and know who they are, and then go do what they want with that.”
Vasilios got involved with Maryland Made as soon as she could, joining the Kubasik First Impact Program in the spring of her freshman year. Her involvement in Kubasik kept her coming back for the other programs Maryland Made had to offer.
“I just loved being involved and getting to meet other athletes from other teams and hear their story,” Vasilios said. “I think it helped me figure out what I wanted to do postgrad because they’re figuring it out as well as me.”
Since completing Kubasik, Vasilios has also participated in the Gossett Fellows, Leadership Academy and inTERPship programs. It was inTERPship that helped place her at WesBanco, and her involvement there introduced her to the Ellin & Tucker position she held this past summer. However, her favorite part of Maryland Made has been her participation in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
“We get together once a month at these meetings, and sometimes it’s like, ‘What can we do better?’” she said. “We get to bring these ideas to the athletic department, to Jim Smith and Diana [Sabau], and we get to voice our opinions.”
A busy schedule could prove challenging for Vasilios, especially when it comes to pursuing her postgraduate passions. Even so, she remains motivated to develop her skills and obtain success when it comes to her career.
“I think being a woman and being the minority definitely motivated me. I think that it’s so cool seeing women thrive in a male-dominated industry,” she said. “Within Maryland Made, [I’m] just growing my network and building those connections with other people off of my team.”
She has also been integral in bringing other field hockey athletes into Maryland Made, serving as the squad’s team liaison.
“Because I have so much experience within all these programs, I’m able to bring in the younger girls on my team and get them more and more involved as well off the field,” Vasilios said. “I think that it’s really great too that our student-athlete community is so engaging … I think that’s really awesome and motivating.”
Motivation isn’t the only thing helping Vasilios deal with her loaded schedule. Throughout her time in College Park, she had to master time management.
This past summer is a prime example. According to Vasilios, she woke up between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. to run and lift before she went to her internship, minimizing the chance of conflict between the two. This also freed up her evenings, allowing her to meet with her former club teammates to play pickup hockey.
“I would give all the credit to her. … Between school, sport, Maryland Made and her family, she just knows how to manage her time,” Wilson said. “I think she is just very disciplined, and I’m sure a lot of that comes from, one, her upbringing and her family, but two, I think Missy runs an amazing program.”
Outside of the résumé, Vasilios features a world-class attitude.
Wilson remembers one of his first impressions of Vasilios. It came on the first day of this past summer’s Career Exposure Tour — another Maryland Made experience in which Vasilios participated — to New York City.
“We got on the trip, probably 5-6 in the morning, early start to the day, and all I can remember is her just always being like the Energizer Bunny,” he said with a laugh. “She is always going to be cracking a joke. She is always going to be having a smile on her face. She just has a good time with whatever she is doing.”
Vasilios brings the same energy on gameday. Typically, Maryland field hockey’s social media pages will post a video of the team walking onto the field before each game. In these clips, Vasilios is always one of the first Terps out, raising her arms to the sky, letting out a “Let’s go!” and sometimes showcasing some dance moves.
During the game, she is quick to uplift her teammates.
“She has done the evolution that, right now, can be challenging, more challenging for some young players, and she’s done that journey. So, because of that, she is super empathetic of all of her teammates,” Meharg said. “I know so many of them go to her on the field and off the field, and she makes everybody laugh.”
This past summer, Vasilios’ character was recognized with a Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award for the prior academic year. She was one of two Maryland athletes selected for the award.
Vasilios plans to graduate this coming May with a degree in finance. While the senior mentioned that she hasn’t necessarily thought too much about her next move, she referenced the NCAA’s new “five-for-five” age-based eligibility as a possible avenue for one more season in College Park. On the other hand, she believes that she has the tools to successfully move into postgraduate life.
“I feel like I’ve really grown and built my path around [graduation] and done all the things necessary so that I could be successful to graduate in May,” she said. “It’s definitely going to be a really tough decision.”
For now, Vasilios will gear up for the NCAA tournament, which begins Friday. But whatever decision she decides to make, she’ll have the skills to conquer her next challenge.
