Former Hofstra women's soccer star Diane Caldwell competing for W-League title while training for Pride field hockey season

 Courtesy Hofstra Athletics Communications

Former Hofstra women’s soccer star Diane Caldwell is keeping plenty busy this summer on the pitch and with a field hockey stick. As Caldwell gets set to play field hockey for Hofstra this fall while attending graduate school, the Balbriggan, Ireland native has continued to pursue soccer by playing for the Hudson County Quickstrike Lady Blues semi-professional club who will be in the USL W-League semifinals on July 29.

Caldwell, who played soccer for Hofstra from 2006 to 2009 and is now pursuing masters in physical education, has been spending her summer thus far housed with her Hudson County teammates at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y. In the midst of taking part intense daily practices and workouts with her W-League squad, Caldwell has also found the time to practice her technical and tactical field hockey skills each day. When Hofstra field hockey head coach Kathy De Angelis agreed to let Caldwell play semi-professional soccer this summer with the Quickstrike it was understood that field hockey would not be far from her mind.

“When I was leaving she said to me ‘if I see you over summer you better have your stick on you at all times,” said Caldwell, who last played field hockey at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin. “Over spring I really did try and work on improving my game and that definitely helped me having that spring under my belt.”

“We were very clear to the fact that if we were giving her this opportunity that she put a real commitment to playing as much hockey while also playing soccer,” said De Angelis. “It is really about the perseverance to be a dual athlete at that level.”

Caldwell, who has competed for the Ireland national soccer team, describes her experience with the Quickstrike as the highest level of the sport she has ever played and is hoping it can someday lead to an opportunity to play professionally in the WPS. If the Quickstrike manage to make it to the W-League championship on July 31 in Santa Clarita, Calif. Caldwell will have a chance to play before a national television audience on Fox Soccer Channel. The dual athlete will then turn her attention solely to field hockey when the Hofstra sticklers begin pre-season practice on Aug. 11 in preparation for the season opener on Aug. 28 against Boston University.