As former Lakeland High School standout Sta’sha Waterfield enters her senior season at Queens University of Charlotte, she hopes to make it a memorable one.

Waterfield will enter her final season of college field hockey with new challenges on her mind. As a junior last season, she grew to be a solid contributor for the NCAA Division II program. She logged 749 minutes on the field as a defender. She has been able to play a significant amount of minutes since a freshman to help Queen’s success.

“Going into my last season of collegiate field hockey, it feels bittersweet,” she said. “Playing field hockey in college was a dream that turned into reality while I was in high school, so seeing it all come to an end so fast is definitely a little sad.”

Last year was a tough year by Waterfield’s own admission. She had a heavy academic workload as she is pursuing a nursing degree. So, it was tough at times managing her time between both field hockey and school, but she was able to make it work and contribute to her team. Last season, QU joined the South Athletic Conference, and they made it to the conference championship but weren’t satisfied because they didn’t win. That will be one of the driving forces for Waterfield’s last season.

“I plan on working hard, playing hard and staying injury-free,” Waterfield said. “We are only a three-year-old program, and when we moved into the conference, we were able to make the conference championship, which was pretty impressive. We didn’t win, but we won’t be satisfied with that. This year we intend to be conference champions.”

With the work she has put in as a student-athlete thus far, she is looking forward to making this season memorable. It starts this weekend as QU will head to Ireland to play alongside international players and do some community service along with some sight-seeing.

“This last season, I want to embrace every minute,” she said. “Everything from the hot practices, early morning lifts, and the close games, because these will be my final times on the field. So, I am very excited for the season and everything that’s in front of us.”

She appreciates the journey and what it has meant to her and gives credit to her family and coaches she has had at Lakeland as well as her club team coaches and friends for the support.

At Lakeland, Waterfield was a field hockey standout. She was an All-Conference, All-Region and All-State selection as a defender for Lakeland during her time there.