Schuette, who had a pair of goals and an assist in her first season with the Tigers, was the second leading scorer on the squad a year ago. She had 10 goals and three assists while helping the Tigers tie the school record for wins in a season.

This season despite being part of a young team that has seen its ups and downs, Schuette has picked up where she left off with three goals and an assist in the first eleven games.

"Mariah is a true competitor and has a knack of finding the back of our opponents' goal. She brings to our team a fierce competitive spirit and gives it all each game," said Coach Michelle Webber.

"She has become a student of the game, thus making her one of the smartest players I have had the honor to coach. This has made it possible for her to step into almost any position on the field and be successful," added Webber.

What most hockey fans might not know is Schuette has another passion when she is not trekking up and down the field.

Kayaking.

"When I was a junior in high school, we had to do an interim, which was a week were we took classes for something that wasn't school related," said Schuette. "I tried it once and fell in love with it."

While Schuette's school did not have a kayaking team, she was able to pursue her passion at one of the local high schools in Colorado. Schuette spent one semester earning an independent athletic credit competing in slalom kayaking events for the rival school.

For those that don't understand slalom kayaking, it involves moving down a course and doing up and down through 20 gates. "Depending on the color of the gate, you either have to go through it going down the course or come past it and go back through it," Schuette commented.

Schuette's involvement in the sport with a club team has taken her all over the country and even all over the world competing. The team traveled to Canada for the Junior Olympic event and to Kenya to compete as guests in an event that was an Olympic qualifier for the African countries.

In fact it was Schuette's love of kayaking that played a part in her transfer to Towson. "I wanted to play field hockey at a Division I program and also be somewhere that I could keep up my kayaking when field hockey wasn't in season." The Tiger field hockey program and a pair of club kayaking teammates at Gettysburg proved to be the perfect combination.

Schuette was in training for the Olympic team trials two summers ago before a concussion knocked her out of practice for two months. "At that point, I decided to put the kayaking aside and concentrate on my senior season of field hockey but I definitely want to get back to it at some point," said Schuette.

While Schuette is determined to help the Tigers finish the 2009 strong, don't be suprised to see her pick kayaking back up once her field hockey career is over.