Nine Emmaus High School female student athletes signed letters of intent last week to continue their education and athletic careers at colleges and universities across the country. Alyson Bohman (volleyball), Christina Carotenuto (field hockey), Madalyn Dorn (field hockey), Samantha Fritzinger (golf), Kira Koehler (field hockey), Reilly McGinnis (soccer), Brittany Morgan (field hockey), Meredith Sholder (field hockey) and Kiyae White (basketball) have all accepted scholarships.

The field hockey team has won back-to-back state championships and continued a long streak of helping athletes receive scholarships. Carotenuto wasn’t a member of the high school team, but played on club teams and competed with teams that played across the country, taking a slightly different path to receiving her scholarship to Temple University where she’ll major in bio-medical engineering and forensic science.

Meredith Sholder, the Emmaus field hockey team’s all-time scoring leader had long known that she would be attending the University of North Carolina on a field hockey scholarship. The Tar Heels lost to Delaware in the NCAA Championship this season.

Koehler holds the highest GPA among the female student athletes with a 4.5 and will attend Dartmouth to major in business and economics.

“I looked at a lot of different schools and when I walked on to the campus there for the first time, it just felt right,” said Kohler. “The balance between athletics and academics there is just phenomenal. I love the coaches and the team is amazing. I can’t wait to make friends with the other players and to get to study there.

“It’s incredible to be a part of the field hockey dynasty that we have here at Emmaus. Just the training that we go through changes you mentally and physically and the entire environment has shaped me into the person that I am today.”

While a number of players have been at their sport for years, Fritzinger is relatively new to competing in golf. She’s been golfing for years, but didn’t get into competing until her freshman season. One of the perks of attending Wingate University, where she’ll major in sports management, is that being in North Carolina, she’ll be able to play golf year-round.

“I played a lot of sports growing up and absolutely love sports, so it seemed like a natural field for me,” said Fritzinger. “Getting to play golf year-round in North Carolina will be great and I was really impressed with the whole atmosphere at the school.”

While some are going to be leaving the area for schools like Wingate, North Carolina and Auburn, others are staying close to home at schools like Kutztown, where volleyball player Bohman will be heading to study Accounting.

“I can be away from home, but still be able to come home on weekends if I need to or want to,” said Bohman, who likes the idea of being close to home even though it was a higher priority for her parents than for her. “I love the school and I’m happy to be going there. The team looks really good and they have a good group of freshman coming in, so there’s a lot to look forward to.”

The female student athletes will be attending Kutztown, Temple, Boston College, Wingate, Dartmouth, Slippery Rock, North Carolina and Auburn. Girls soccer standout Reilly McGinnis will be attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where she will major in Kinesiology, math and economics.