Engineering Success On And Off The Field THe Siergiej Sisters
When Cornell freshman field hockey player Isabel Siergiej was in her senior year of high school and faced with making one of the most important decisions of her life, she turned to her older sister, Marisa '16, and asked for advice on how to choose the college she should attend. At Marisa's suggestion, Isabel made a list of everything she was hoping to gain from her college experience. Isabel's list included, among other things: an outstanding engineering program, a top quality Division I field hockey program, and a campus that has a diverse atmosphere and student body. Then Marisa suggested that Isabel go through each of the schools she was considering – Cornell, Penn, Penn State and Northwestern – and rank them for each entry on her list.
"Midway through," says Marisa, "Isabel said, 'Why are we even doing this? All it's going to tell us is that Cornell is the best.'"
Four years earlier, Cornell had also been the best choice for Marisa, who had also considered attending Lehigh and Miami University (Ohio). Like Isabel, the elder Siergiej was drawn to Cornell for its outstanding engineering program – she's a chemical engineering major – and its competitive field hockey program.
During her time at Cornell, Marisa has proven to be an accomplished student, getting accepted into the Engineering Leadership Certificate Program, a highly selective one-year program that develops students to make an impact on the world, and live a life of purpose and fulfillment. The curriculum covers competencies in self-management, teamwork, leadership, and professional skills and graduates earn a designation on their transcript recognizing their demonstrated excellence in engineering leadership. On the field, Marisa is a two-time Mideast Region All-American and a three-time All-Ivy selection, including a unanimous first-team All-Ivy honor a year ago.
Marisa, who is serving as one of the team's co-captains during her senior season, was thrilled for Isabel's decision to join her on the Big Red.
"I definitely wanted Isabel to come here," says Marisa. "I think she brings a lot to the team."
That sentiment is echoed by head coach Donna Hornibrook.
"We were so happy to have Isabel commit to play for us," says Hornibrook. "Not all sisters want to play together. But it shows the respect they have for each other when a player wants to follow her sister."
Following in the footsteps of such an amazing student-athlete could be a daunting idea for some younger siblings, but for Isabel it wasn't even a small consideration.
"I always thought I could forge my own path here," says Isabel. "I knew I would follow in the footsteps of Marisa, but that doesn't mean I can't succeed and make my own way."
One big factor that will allow Isabel to forge her own path is the fact that she is a forward, while Marisa is one of the premiere defenders in the nation.
"They're very different players," says Hornibrook. "Marisa we moved into a defensive role when she got to Cornell. She's a great tackler and is a physical presence in the backfield. Isabel has an incredible first step and her stick skills are really tight. I think she's got the ability to be a great player for us offensively."
While they are on opposite ends of the field playing very fundamentally different positions, Hornibrook points to the pair's versatility, humility and poise as being some of the strongest characteristics they share that allow them to be successful.
"They are both key components of our offensive and defensive penalty corner units," explains Hornibrook. "They're really solid fundamentally and one of the main things that drew me to Marisa when I was recruiting her was her poise, and Isabel has that same sense of calm about her when she plays.
"Both Isabel and Marisa are really solid players, but first and foremost, they're really solid people. There's a humility factor with them. They are two of our best players, but they are incredibly hard workers and they have a team-first attitude and that really creates an atmosphere that makes it hard for other players to be anything but that."
Marisa attributes the duo's work ethic and humility to their mother, Lalana, who emigrated from Bangkok, Thailand to the United States to attend Lehigh University. "My mom gave us this work ethic. She's always been very driven. She came here as a foreign exchange student, went back to Thailand, and then came back for university on her own. She's our biggest supporter and she loves the field hockey team."
And it was Lalana who started the girls on their path in field hockey in the first place. She was attending a health fair at Penn-Trafford High School and as an incentive to visit the field hockey booth, guests received a goldfish. Moments later, with goldfish in hand, Lalana was convinced by the Penn-Trafford High School coach to register Marisa and her older sister, Amanda, to play field hockey.
But it was a shaky start to a promising career.
"I cried on the way to my first practice because I didn't want to go," remembers Marisa. "I didn't know anybody and I had no clue what I was doing."
But it didn't take long for Marisa to change her mind about field hockey.
"I started to make friends, so that helped," she says. "And then halfway through my first season, I was in a game running down field and I pulled around one opponent, and then I ran up to another and I pulled around her and then I passed the ball and I thought, 'Oh OK, I finally understand what this game is all about.'"
Lalana was also responsible for Isabel's participation in field hockey, but this time out of convenience, rather than the promise of a goldfish. "I was taking Marisa to her practices in eighth grade," she explains. "Isabel was in fifth grade and had to tag along for the ride and wait for Marisa to be done. So I just signed her up and made her go with Marisa. It turned out to be good decision!"
Both Siergiej sisters have found tremendous success on the pitch with numerous accolades to their names. They have won individual awards and in the one season they played together at Penn-Trafford High School, the sisters led the Warriors to their first ever Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League Class AAA field hockey championship, upsetting North Allegheny High School, a team that had won the title in 10 of the previous 13 seasons.
At Cornell, the sisters hope to recreate the success they had together in high school when they won the district championship and make a run at the Ivy League title, something the Big Red field hockey program has accomplished just once before in 1991 – two years before Marisa was born.
"I love playing with Marisa," says Isabel. "I'm really happy with my decision to come to Cornell. This is the right place for me and it's just great to be here. We only have one year together and we have an awesome opportunity, so I just want to make the most of it."