News: Foxcroft Grads Making Their Mark in College

Chelsy Copeland in action

Ashton Marshall

(Oct. 13, 2011) - While one Foxcroft graduate carried on the Middleburg school’s tradition of equestrian excellence by winning the one of the top steeplechase races in the sport, a number of her fellow alumnae have been leaving indelible marks in lacrosse and field hockey on the college playing fields in the spring.

Jessi Coil

Blair Waterman Wyatt and her mount, Bon Caddo, won the 86th running of the Virginia Gold Cup race on May 7 at Great Meadows in The Plains, VA. Blair, who graduated from Foxcroft in 1997, became one of just a handful of women to win the $75,000 race. Foxcroft has sent two riders to the Olympics and dozens more to major championships. of equestrian.

The girls’ boarding school located in Middleburg, Va., has also sent scores of women to outstanding colleges – and in recent years, several of them have had great success.

Sloane Coles, a 2007 graduate of Foxcroft, Ashton Marshall ‘10, Caitlin McNaughton ’07 and Jessica Copeland ’06 all achieved all-league honors at the Division III level over the last two seasons. Several others, including Claire Mancini ’05, Jessi Coil ’06, Chelsy Coil ’08 and Meredith “Dish” Harris ’10, have made substantial contributions at Division I universities.

Meredith "Dish" Harris

A resident of The Plains, VA, Coles has managed to train for and compete at Grand Prix horse shows even as she earned First Team All-Landmark Conference honors in lacrosse for three seasons in a row at Drew University! As a senior midfielder this spring, Coles led the squad with 47 draw controls and 39 ground balls. She was second on the team with 31 goals and fifth with 33 points. She finishes her career second all-time in career draw controls.

Coles, who won the Bates Medal for her riding performance as a junior, commuted to Wellington, FL, in the winter and competed in jumper shows around the east coast in the summer and fall during her college years. She now plans to focus on riding in hopes of eventually qualifying for the Olympic Equestrian Team

The Landmark Conference in which Drew’s lacrosse team plays, consists of Catholic University, Drew University, Goucher College, Juniata College, Moravian College, Susquehanna University, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and the University of Scranton.

Marshall, of Round Hill, Va., graduated from Foxcroft in 2010 as the all-time leading scorer in lacrosse and continued her high-scoring ways as a freshman at Christopher Newport University this spring. Playing attack, Marshall made First Team All-USA South Conference by scoring 49 goals and adding seven assists for 56 points, which was the third highest total on the CNU team. She helped CNU win its sixth straight USA South championship and advance to the NCAA Division III tournament.

The USA South consists of Ferrum College (Va.), Greensboro (N.C.), LaGrange (Ga), Agnes Scott (Ga), North Carolina Wesleyan, Methodist University (N.C.) and Shenandoah University (Va.)

Harris, a native of Middleburg and Marshall’s teammate at Foxcroft, played in 11 of 16 games for the University of Denver’s lacrosse team. The feisty midfielder scored three goals and had four assists for seven points as she made the jump to Division I competition and will likely see more playing time next season.

Blair Waterman Wyatt

McNaughton, another Middleburg resident was named to the all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference first team in field hockey last fall. A defender at Sewanee: The College of the South, McNaughton started 52 games and recorded four goals, three assists and 13 points in her four years as a Tiger. She was an honorable mention all-SCAC in 2009.

The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference includes Austin (Texas), Birmingham Southern, Centre College (Ky.), Colorado College, DePauw University (Ind.), Hendrix College (Ark.), Millsaps College (Miss.), Oglethorpe (Ga.), Rhodes College (Tenn.), Sewanee, College of the South, Southwestern (Tex.) and Trinity (Tex.).

Sloane Coles

Copeland, of Ligonier, Pa., played lacrosse at Ohio Wesleyan for four years and was named the Offensive Player of the Year in the All-North Coast Athletic Conference in her senior year of 2010, when she led the conference with a stunning 67 goals (3.67 per game) and 4.47 points per game. Four of her scores were game-winners. She also was a second team mention in 2009 and finished her career with more than 100 goals.

Jessica Copeland

The North Coast Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division III affiliate. The league consists of Allegheny College (Pa.), Denison (Ohio), Hiram College (Ohio), Kenyon (Ohio), Oberlin (Ohio), Ohio Wesleyan, Wabash (Ind.), Wittenberg (Ohio) and College of Wooster (Ohio).

Chelsy and Jessi Coil, sisters from in Round Hill, oth were recruited to play Division I field hockey. At Kent State, Jessi played virtually every game at defender during her first two years and was named to the All-MAC Tournament Team as a freshman. Chelsy, who will be a red shirt junior at Michigan State this fall, has been plagued by injuries and illness which have kept from seeing much action.