Women’s recruit: Downingtown West’s Hibbs falls back on lacrosse and UMBC

By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, posted 3/23/09

Downingtown West senior midfielder Devan Hibbs has signed a letter of intent to play next year at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County.

Hibbs, a second-team All-Ches-Mont National Conference choice last season, first thought she’d play soccer in college. But she decided late in her junior year to pursue a lacrosse scholarship and UMBC showed immediate interest.

“I always played soccer, but eventually I got burned out and I couldn’t see playing another four years,” she said. “Luckily, I had lacrosse to fall back on.

“The UMBC coaches contacted me after a summer tournament, and I loved the campus. The school is only 2 hours away and I liked the lacrosse program.”

Hibbs, a member of the National Honor Society, plans to become a pediatric oncologist.

“I have always been interested in the medical field and I have known since I was younger that I wanted to be a doctor,” she said. “I am interested in studying cancer, especially in pediatrics.”

Hibbs, for now, is hoping to guide a young Whippets team that enters the year as the defending Ches-Mont National Conference champions. Downingtown West is young, but talented.

“We lost a lot,” she said. “We lost our three top goal scorers, so this is a year for rebuilding. It will be challenging because everyone is in a new position, and we’ll be playing with people who never played varsity before.

“But it will be interesting. We’re working really hard and we’re hoping to be just as successful. I think we have the potential, we just have to work harder to get familiar with ourselves.”