Lottery Numbers for Friday, Jan. 15.

Former WBS coaches to lead U.S. team

<p>Jeremy Cook will never forget Amanda Faust.</p><p>Sure, it&#8217;s been eight years since the Wyoming Valley West grad has grabbed a field hockey stick at Bucknell University.</p><p>Doesn&#8217;t matter to Cook. The images never fade. The head coach still has a picture of Faust hanging inside his office in Lewisburg.</p><p>&#8220;She was a coach&#8217;s dream,&#8221; said Cook, head coach at Bucknell. &#8220;Honestly, I don&#8217;t think there is a chance we will see a player like Amanda Faust again &#8211; especially with the rule changes the game has seen since she has graduated. She&#8217;s a special player, and an amazing talent.&#8221;</p><p>The Patriot League agreed.</p><p>Faust was recently named to the Patriot League Field Hockey 25th Anniversary Team, one of three players from Bucknell selected.</p><p>&#8220;Shocked. That&#8217;s the best way I could describe it when I found out,&#8221; Faust said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t expect it at all. When I received an email about it, I was shocked. It&#8217;s an amazing accomplishment.&#8221;</p><p>Faust had a remarkable career for the Bison. She was a four-time All-Patriot League selection &#8211; a three-time first-team selection. She is the school&#8217;s all-time leader with 34 assists, and third in the program&#8217;s history with 92 points.</p><p>Don&#8217;t be surprised by how much success Faust had.</p><p>Cook knew from the very beginning.</p><p>&#8220;I knew Amanda when she was in high school, and I knew right there she was going to do something special,&#8221; said Cook, who coached Faust during her senior year at Bucknell. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never seen someone so driven.&#8221;</p><p>She was ready.</p><p>The Wyoming Valley Conference is like a meat grinder each night in field hockey. It tests you mentally. It pushes you to the brink physically.</p><p>Heck, just look at her classmates while she was a Spartan and their collegiate choices.</p><p>Towson. James Madison. Virginia.</p><p>That made for some pretty intense practices.</p><p>&#8220;Playing in the conference prepared you,&#8221; Faust said. &#8220;No matter who the opponent was, you knew there was great competition all over the league. Not only great teams, but amazing, athletic individuals. When I entered Bucknell, I knew that I was ready not only athletically, but also academically.&#8221;</p><p>Yes, she set goals for herself.</p><p>&#8220;My first one was to make an immediate impact as a freshman,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I wanted to work hard to achieve all the goals that I set for myself. That&#8217;s what life is all about. You set goals, and work hard to reach them. Yes, I did reach most of them, but you don&#8217;t always achieve everything. That&#8217;s life.&#8221;</p><p>Eight years have passed since Faust last toed the Bucknell field in 2008.</p><p>And eight years later, Cook can still remember that ball whizzing off her stick.</p><p>&#8220;Man, she can hit the ball. Honestly, she was scary,&#8221; Cook laughed. &#8220;Now, add to the fact how focused she was as a competitor. I believe there were opposing teams that were intimidated by her. She hit the ball like 85-90 miles per hour. And on the penalty corner, she was incredible. She had great timing, and the footwork to match it. Now, add heart and determination.&#8221;</p><p>Bittersweet.</p><p>&#8220;If you ask the people that know me, they will tell you I had a love-hate relationship with field hockey,&#8221; Faust said.</p><p>She doesn&#8217;t miss the preseason practices.</p><p>&#8220;I feel for the kids when August rolls around,&#8221; she chuckled.</p><p>The games, the team memories, that&#8217;s the part she never forgets.</p><p>&#8220;To be honest, it didn&#8217;t set in until the final games of my senior season,&#8221; she said. &#8220;You begin to realize that the game, something that you have been playing for eight, 10 years, is coming to an end. You play as hard as you can, and all you want to do is win because you know a loss in the playoffs ends your career. The ability to compete is amazing. That was the best part. I love to compete, and I miss the team aspects. I had a lot of great teammates, but you know that when your career is over, everyone is going to go in different directions, and down different paths in life.&#8221;</p><p>Faust, who graduated from Bucknell with a degree in Accounting and currently works in the Department of Defense, knows that hard work can pay off.</p><p>And she&#8217;s hoping one of her final goals come to fruition in the near future.</p><p>&#8220;I do hope to get into the Bucknell Hall of Fame someday,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We will see.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Amanda-Faust-2.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West and Bucknell grad Amanda Faust was recently named to the Patriot League Field Hockey 25th Anniversary Team. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Amanda-Faust-2.jpeg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Valley West and Bucknell grad Amanda Faust was recently named to the Patriot League Field Hockey 25th Anniversary Team. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photos </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Amanda-Faust-3.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">Amanda Faust, a former Wyoming Valley West and Bucknell standout in field hockey, was recently named to the Patriot League Field Hockey 25th Anniversary Team. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Amanda-Faust-3.jpeg</photo1><caption1>Amanda Faust, a former Wyoming Valley West and Bucknell standout in field hockey, was recently named to the Patriot League Field Hockey 25th Anniversary Team. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photos </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Fox</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Faust selected to Patriot League Field Hockey 25th Anniversary Team