Amanda Magadan Golini calls her path to the Olympics "unorthodox." That's mostly because she didn't start playing field hockey until her freshman year at Randolph High School.

Since she was 8 years old, Golini had traveled across the country playing softball. She thought that was her ticket to college, and possibly to a future career.

But when she reached Randolph, Golini chose a fall sport between volleyball and softball. Because she was "quite short" on the court, Golini decided to apply the hand-eye coordination she'd honed on the diamond to a different sort of stick.

Golini loved the speed of field hockey, as well as the fact that she could make mistakes. In softball, by contrast, she had only so many at-bats and could go a whole game without fielding a single ground ball.

She quickly adapted to her new sport, breaking Randolph's record with 31 goals and 11 assists as a senior in 2012. Recruited for both sports, she chose to focus on field hockey at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Lafayette head coach Jennifer Stone encouraged Golini to go to USA Field Hockey's Nexus summer camp. But even as an NCAA Division I athlete, Golini still suffered from impostor syndrome.

"From that, I made the (United States under-21) team, which I didn't know was part of the path and pipeline of that tournament," Golini recalled. "I started to think, 'That would be really cool to make the national team, but I'm happy to make it this far.' I've always put one foot in front of the other, just made small gains and set small goals."

How Golini went from newcomer to leader

Golini was named to the U-21 national team in 2014, her sophomore year at Lafayette. She led the Leopards in scoring as a junior and senior and was a two-time first-team Patriot League honoree. She was also a third-team All-American in 2016.

Golini played at the Junior Pan-American Championships and Junior World Cup as an undergrad.

"That's when I was like, 'Why not me? I can make the national team,'" said Golini, who made her first international appearance against Ireland on May 24, 2017. "I went through that same thought process. 'I want to make rosters. I want to play. I want to be an impact player.'"

But the United States fell one goal short of qualifying for the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. No one on the current field hockey roster has participated in a Summer Games.

"After that moment, I wanted to be an Olympian, but I also wanted better for the team," she said. "I wanted the team to have success and I wanted to be part of that."

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Golini has weathered many transitions, both professional and personal. USA Field Hockey moved its headquarters from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to the Proving Grounds in the Philadelphia suburbs in 2020. A year later, the program shifted to Charlotte, North Carolina.

She also got married to Alec Golini, a former Lafayette soccer player from Lumberton. When Amanda moved to Charlotte, she lived with a host family. Her new husband stayed behind, working as a teacher and soccer coach at Burlington Township High School until after the 2021-22 school year.

Though Golini got her real estate license in Pennsylvania, field hockey is now her full-time job. A co-captain of the national team, she is once again focusing on the small goals needed to advance out of the group stage.

Olympic field hockey schedule

Team USA was drawn into Pool B with Argentina (ranked No. 2 in the world), Australia (No. 4), Spain (No. 7), Great Britain and South Africa. Games begin on July 27, the morning after the Opening Ceremony.

Golini's cheering section in Paris will include her husband, mom Silvia Magadan, brothers Nick and Chris and their families, former coach Stone and her former Charlotte host family.

Silvia Magadan noted it would be her second trip to Paris with Amanda. When the U.S. was eliminated after group play at the Women's World Cup in London in 2018, mother and daughter stayed on in England – and took a day trip across the Channel.

"I never thought she would make it this far," said Silvia Magadan, a pediatrician in Denville. "But you know what? She's a hard worker. She's eager. She always wants to excel at what she does. Nothing will stop her."

Golini made her 150th international appearance on May 25 against Argentina. She is the first national field hockey player from Lafayette, and believed to be the college's first Olympian.

"It was a little bit of a storybook. She is where she is because of what's in her heart and what's in her head," said Stone, who is going into her 12th season at the helm. "She was a diamond out there, and she didn't quite know what she was. In all honesty, we didn't either. But the moment you started working with her, you see her love, her passion, her work ethic. She was pretty determined to keep going."

Jane Havsy is a storyteller for the Daily Record and DailyRecord.com, part of the USA TODAY Network. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis, subscribe today.

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This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Amanda Magadan Golini of Randolph heads to 2024 Paris Olympics