Women’s recruit: Springfield-Delco senior midfielder Poplawski chooses Penn

By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/4/09

Springfield-Delco senior midfielder Madison Poplawski has committed to play at the University of Pennsylvania.

Poplawski, a first-team All-American who helped the Cougars win their third straight District 1 Class AA championship last year, attended Penn’s summer camp last year and grew comfortable with several players and Quakers coach Karin Brower.

“I loved it all,” she said. “The girls were nice to me, and one of them was (freshman) Allison Tatios (of Bayard Rustin). Being on campus, I had no idea it was eco-friendly. There are trees and other things besides skyscrapers to look at.

“I knew it was close to home, so my parents can watch games.”

Poplawski’s mother, Haverford High grad Christine (Muller) Poplawski, was a standout herself in the city. She played goalie at Temple under Tina Sloan Green in the 1980s and was a member of the U.S. World Cup team in 1989.

Daughter Madison has carved her own niche, also being named Academic All-American as a junior. She is considering a career in medicine or prosthetics and will focus on science and math at Penn.

Poplawski also is excited about playing for a team that reached the NCAA championship game last year and is ranked fifth in the first IWLCA Poll this year.

“It is really exciting,” she said. “I went to Towson and watched them last year(in the Final Four). I also saw them beat Boston U. (in the quarterfinals), and I got to see how everyone came together.

“They got to play Northwestern in the finals and the Duke game (an overtime semifinal victory) was amazing at the end.”

Poplawski said coming from a program as successful as Springfield will help her at the college level.

“Definitely; I talked with (Delaware’s) Julianna Jeffers and Penn State’s Jackie (Eastman),” she said of the two Springfield-Delco All-Americans who graduated in 2007. “They tell me we always did more running in high school.

“We have great coaching and we go into each practice with a game plan. It’s such a good community feeling we have for the team.”