When Cape Henlopen’s Sydney Ostroski stepped on the campus, she knew.

West Chester was the school she would continue her education and career at.

And it all happened by chance.

“I had no idea about West Chester,” Ostroski said. “I didn’t look there or anything. I went one day for a camp they invited me to.”

She loved it — the players, the coaches and the ability to study education and minor in coaching was something that just fit for the senior forward, who just won her fourth straight DIAA field hockey title with the Vikings.

Ostroski had always made it a plan to play in college at any NCAA level.

“I really did want to play field hockey and I was looking at schools to play field hockey, but I was really taking into consideration that I want to be a teacher and do a lot with education,” she said. “It’s definitely a plus to play field hockey.”

Her parents, Loretta and Mark Ostroski, couldn’t be more proud, especially since their daughter found the blend of school and sports. Something they have stressed in the college selection process since day one.

“West Chester was the division II school that we went up to on a junior day, and she immediately fell in love with the school,” Loretta Ostroski said. “She loved the school. She loved the players. She knew it had the major she was looking for, elementary education with a focus in special education.

“That day, she knew.”

Once she learned more about the school, it was an easy decision.

“It was an added bonus when she got up there and met the coaches and staff there,” Mark Ostroski said. “They started talking about curriculum and everything. They actually have a minor in coaching, and that interested her as well because she’s done some coaching for her club program.”

Ostroski got started with field hockey when she was young, growing up in a neighborhood full of talented Vikings’ field hockey players.

But Ostroski didn’t just play field hockey, there was lacrosse, softball and basketball.

As she got older the decision became harder as time commitments grew within each sport.

“As she had to make choices for practices and things like that, it always came to field hockey,” Loretta Ostroski said. “She decided she wanted to play field hockey, and then it was softball or field hockey. As she got older, it always remained field hockey.”

For Ostroski, field hockey felt like the natural fit, playing with Delaware Shore Field Hockey and the United States Futures team.

Her success in the sport has shown she made the right decision, scoring a goal and an assist in the state title game against Delmar, closing her Cape career and launching Ostroski into a new era of life.

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do without these girls,” Ostroski said after the state title game. “They’re all my best friends, but half of them I hang out with them every day after school. We do everything together so it’s going to be a big change not being with them every day.”

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