Lonica McKinney had the ball settled on the end of her field hockey stick with a split-second decision to make. Saint Joseph's goalkeeper was bearing down on her from the front, and a couple of the Hawks' defenders were closing in to her left.
 
She didn't blink. She calmly slotted the ball over the keeper's outstretched leg and into the far corner for the goal that helped lift the Rams to their first conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
Despite the pressure of playing in the program's first A-10 Championship match, the moment didn't faze her.
 
McKinney, an All-Atlantic 10 Second Team forward on VCU's Field Hockey team who just completed her senior season, has never been one to shy away from a challenge.
 
As a two-year-old, McKinney was skiing. As a three-year-old, McKinney was already lacing her skates and suiting up for ice hockey. At four years old, she had started both dance and tee ball, in addition to hockey. At five, she even added figure skating to the mix. Shortly after, she became a fixture on the baseball diamond.
 
McKinney was raised in Roblin, Manitoba, Canada until the age of 10. Roblin is a small, agricultural town of roughly 1,500 people located on the western side of Manitoba close to the Saskatchewan border.
 
In a town that small, fielding a team of all girls was nearly impossible. A younger sister with two older brothers, McKinney was more than used to facing boys.
 
"When I was younger, playing on boys' teams was the only option. Everyone should be able to play sports, so I decided I would just play with the guys because I didn't have an opportunity to play with girls only. It was natural for me, and I just always felt I should be included," McKinney said.
 
Despite often being one of the only girls on a boys' team, whether it be baseball or another sport, McKinney never let herself be singled out. She competed just as hard as the boys around her and more than held her own.
 
"There were times that there were comments made. The teams that I was on, I had worried that some of them didn't want to be on a team with a girl or that they couldn't say certain things because I was there. I was really impressed by a lot of them and how they treated me. They respected that I was there playing with them. It definitely helped that I was pretty good," joked McKinney.
 
At 10, McKinney's family packed up and moved from Roblin to Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada due to her parent's job situation. The family made a two-day trek west to their new home in Kelowna, a picturesque city of 150,000 located on Okanagan Lake.
 
"My whole life until I moved to Kelowna, it was mainly just boys. We didn't actually even have softball because there weren't enough girls in town to form a team," McKinney said.
 
The move to a bigger city allowed McKinney to have more opportunities in sports, including joining an all girls' team for the first time.
 
As hitting and checking started around that age in hockey, McKinney was able to join Kelowna's only girls' team. In her new city, McKinney also gave gymnastics a chance, along with touch rugby, volleyball and basketball, but none of them quite stuck until she tried field hockey.
 
In seventh grade, a year before McKinney moved into high school in Canada, a group of high school field hockey players came by and tried to both garner interest and introduce the sport.
 
"We thought it was so funny that they had these hockey sticks with hooks on them. We were whacking the ball around in the grass, me and some of my girls' hockey teammates, and I really thought it was fun," McKinney said.
 
From there, she was hooked. McKinney joined the high school team as an eighth grader and her natural talent showed through immediately.
 
"The start of my field hockey career was successful because of my speed, aggression and that I never gave up. I didn't have any skill at first, but playing all those other sports and against boys helped me. Even my recruitment video, when I watch it back, it's hard to watch because of how little skill I had," McKinney said.
 
The summer after 10^th grade, McKinney made the British Columbia provincial team. Then in 11^th grade, she was named to the top 11 at the provincial tournament and was invited to Team Canada's National ID Camp.
 
In her junior year, McKinney's choice of field hockey paid off and her recruiting process took off.
 
During that time, McKinney had still been suiting up for her provincial Team British Columbia baseball team and her recreation hockey team. Though her focus shifted to field hockey, she continued to play baseball and hockey recreationally until she left for college.
 
"My mom made me a great recruiting video and I emailed it out all to coaches. I didn't know anything about the schools, good or bad, but Bean had watched my video and had played field hockey in college with one of the coaches on my junior national team. Bean had talked with them and some other coaches about me and offered me the chance to come to VCU," McKinney said.
 
McKinney accepted the scholarship offer and enrolled at VCU. Now fully committed to her field hockey career, her raw athleticism and talent began to match the hard work.
 
She became a fixture as a freshman, starting all 17 games, and was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team. As a sophomore, McKinney scored that game-winner in the 2020-21 A-10 Championship Match against Saint Joseph's that lifted VCU to the program's first conference title.
 
Overall, McKinney played in 60 games for the Rams with 50 starts during her four seasons. She's scored 15 goals and added four assists. This past season, she scored six goals and handed out four assists.
 
McKinney has starred both on and off the field for the Rams. She was selected to the Atlantic 10 All-Academic Team with a perfect 4.0 GPA, while majoring in environmental studies with a product innovation certificate. McKinney also is pursuing a minor in business and certificates in sustainable innovation and the Peace Corps.
 
In September, McKinney was named in the fall to the Field Hockey Canada's NextGen Senior Developmental Squad list alongside just 20 other athletes, including VCU teammate Morgan Hanley.
 
In late October, McKinney was one of 38 seniors selected for the NFHCA Division I Senior Game that took place back on Nov. 19 in conjunction with the NCAA Championship game.
 
All of that came on the heels of McKinney playing for Canada at the Junior World Cup this past April.
 
When she graduates, McKinney's next goal is to put her degree to work in renewable energy. It's an industry set on making innovative and drastic changes to how the world operates.
 
Some would say that it's a big challenge but for McKinney, it'll be just another day.