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By STEVE SEMBRAT; Times Leader Sports Team Leader
Saturday, May 02, 1998 Page:
LEHMAN TWP.- Going the extra mile has never bothered Joanne White.
In fact, she kind of likes it.
So much so that she has become the first Wyoming Valley Conference field
hockey player to commit to Stanford University. That’s where White will
continue her academic and athletic career after graduating as Lake-Lehman High
School’s salutatorian.
White had taken trips to Harvard University, Princeton University, Brown
University and the College of William & Mary, but enjoyed her trip to one of
the nation’s most prestigious academic and athletic institutions the most.
“That was cool,” White, 18, said of her trip to Stanford, located just
south of San Francisco. “Once I got there, it pretty much decided it.
“I wanted to go to a California school. I think I’m a California girl.”
Few who know White would argue. While highly intelligent, there are times
she seems like the typical West Coast “Valley Girl.” After all, how many other
goalies would show up for a practice without their pads?
In the clutch, however, Lake-Lehman came to depend on White.
She became the starting goalie for the Black Knights as a junior. Lehman
was ranked No. 1 in the state, but the team’s weak point was perceived to be
in goal, where White had no varsity experience.
“Joanne worked so hard,” Lehman coach Jean Lipski said. “She knew what she
was expected to do. She went to all the camps and did all the work.”
The result was that White literally saved the Black Knights’ state title
hopes several times during the 1996 playoffs. She was brilliant in not
allowing a goal as Lehman marched to the PIAA Class AA state championship.
As a senior, White was a WVC all-star as well as all-state in Class AA. She
is believed to be the first player from Pennsylvania ever recruited by
Stanford’s field hockey program.
“It’s an incredible tribute, not just to Lake-Lehman, but to the entire
conference that she was recruited by Stanford,” Lipski said. “That is just
incredible.”
The interesting aspect is that it’s a Lehman player who’s making this cross
country leap. After all, we’re talking about a school where homebodies are the
rule and adventurers are the exception, according to Lipski and many others at
the school.
Yet Lipski said that White will have no problem acclimating herself to a
demanding academic and athletic program more than 2,000 miles from home.
“Joanne is very secure,” Lipski said. “She has said from the beginning that
distance is not an issue.
“She has incredible personal goals. She is incredibly intelligent. She can
go, acclimate and succeed, which is what we want from all of our students.”
White plans to major in biology at Stanford. During the season, she’ll get
to see her sisters Karen and Molly who live in California, play against her
sister Debbie when the Cardinal !!cq!! travel !!also cq with Cardinal as
nickname!! to Michigan State, and see family members when the team plays in
Boston.
“I get a lot of wows,” White said of her decision.
Actually, her career as a Lehman student-athlete deserves a “Wow!”
Joanne, the daughter of Joe and Anne White of Harveys Lake, is student
council tr