This afternoon, the sector hockey staff representing The School of New Jersey will likely be enjoying its penultimate sport in its 2024 New Jersey Athletic Convention slate, internet hosting Stockton College.
TCNJ, so ably coached by Sharon Pfluger for almost 40 seasons, is 9-5 on the season, and can probably must win the NJAC Event with the intention to make it to the NCAA Division III bracket.
One of many higher gamers for the Lions this season is a midfielder named Rayhana Ahmed. She was a again when she prepped at Bridgewater-Raritan (N.J.), however is within the heart of the park for one of many higher applications in Division III area hockey.
You may at all times inform the place Ahmed is, not simply due to her quickness and her penchant for goal-scoring, however due to what she is sporting. Ahmed is a religious Muslim, and, as such, she wears black leggings in addition to a scarf.
Ahmed has been featured in an Instagram function known as Muslim Women Ball Too, and is pictured on social media websites and on the TCNJ web site sporting a sports activities hijab. By way of range and inclusion, having a participant as proficient as Ahmed is on probably the greatest collegiate applications within the U.S. is a game-changer.
If you watch a TCNJ sport, she makes issues occur everywhere in the pitch. In a current sport in opposition to Rowan, she confirmed a willingness to go after a ball in an open area, chipping it previous the opposing goalie to permit teammate Julia Neff a tap-in.
Ahmed can be a superb defender in addition to a nook flyer for the TCNJ protection. She was unfortunate to have been known as for a penalty stroke late in that Rowan sport in the midst of her nook protection duties, however she has been one of many higher all-around gamers on the staff.
She’s price a watch.