Maryland Athletics 2021 Hall of Fame Spotlight: Keli Smith Puzo

The sport of field hockey has always created pure elation and joy for former Maryland field hockey legend Keli Smith Puzo, but it was the people that led her to College Park.

Growing up in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, with a father who played football at Penn State University, Smith Puzo had her sights set on becoming a Nittany Lion up until her recruiting process. 

“As a young kid, I dreamt about being a Nittany Lion and the minute I stepped on campus in College Park and met the people, it was literally a no brainer,” Smith Puzo said. 

On her drive back home from her recruiting visit to Maryland, her father Neal and mother Sharon knew she made her decision to become a Terp.

“I love it there,” Smith Puzo said. “I loved the environment and I thought it was a really fun, yet high-caliber institution. I think ultimately what led me there was just the people. The people are amazing at Maryland and inside the athletic department.”

Smith Puzo credits being lucky to have such great mentors along the way that helped create that happiness on the pitch.

“I think I always play the sport truly just out of pure enjoyment and I was just super fortunate to be led by incredible mentors and coaches along the way,” Smith Puzo said. “I think a lot of what I learned about perseverance and hard work, I learned on the field through these great mentors with Missy Meharg at the top of that list.”

Maryland field hockey head coach Missy Meharg, who is now in her 34th year at the helm of the Terrapins, has led her program to seven national championships and is the all-time winningest head coach at Maryland regardless of sport.

Smith Puzo led the Terps to one of those national championships in 1999, the second under Meharg. She was also a three-time All-American, three-time All-ACC honoree and helped lead the Terps to three ACC titles.

Some of her best memories as a student-athlete at Maryland came on the field, including a 1-0 overtime upset over Virginia in the 1998 ACC Tournament.

“My sophomore year we were the underdogs going into the ACC Tournament and the tournament was at Virginia and they were supposed to win it all,” she said. “We actually upset them in the ACC Tournament Championship and that was just incredible. It was a big turning point for my generation at Maryland because that’s when we really realized how good we could be.”

While she had success during her collegiate career, it continued into her professional career with the sport, to which she mentions Meharg as a catalyst for that success.

“I probably can’t give you a better human being and better mentor that I’ve ever had in my life,” Smith Puzo said. “Missy really is incredibly passionate about field hockey, but she cares deeply about every single individual and what their needs are. To this day, she’s still one of my best friends and greatest mentors and I admire everything that she does, both as a coach, a mom and just as a human being.”

The University of Maryland was the perfect balance of support and excellence in the mind of Smith Puzo. In addition to having great support from her family on and off the field, Maryland also pushed her to be better in the classroom and on the pitch.

During her spectacular field hockey career at Maryland, Smith Puzo had opportunities that helped with her professional career later on. She played in the Pan American Junior Championships in 2000, and after graduating in 2001, she played for the U.S. Women’s National Team. 

In 2002, she played on the World Cup Team in Australia, the World Cup Qualifying Series in England, and the Champions Challenge in Russia. From 2003-2007 she played in the Dominican Republic, Italy, Barbados, New Zealand, Spain, and Brazil.

Smith Puzo became an Olympian, the pinnacle of the sport, in 2008 when she played for the U.S. Olympic Team in Beijing.

“During my first Olympics, I was just so taken back by the whole experience both qualifying for the Olympics and obviously being there,” Smith Puzo said. “I felt like I was representing not only my country and my teammates, but I was also representing the Terp family and my own family. It was just an amazing experience and such an honor.”

In February of 2011, Smith Puzo and her husband, Ianko, announced she was pregnant with her second child. She gave birth to her second son, Ian, on August 31 of that year, just about a year before the 2012 London Olympics. Being the mother of Ian and the couple’s eldest son Xavi did not stop her from returning full speed and training with the National Team just three months after Ian was born. She then closed out her Olympic career in London in 2012.

“My second Olympics, I actually had two kids so I feel like it was a complete honor but I felt like the weight of my family was on my shoulders even more, in a good way,” she said. “I felt like I was playing for not only myself and my country, but also my two sons, Xavi and Ian, and that was really special to me.”

Smith Puzo had the unique opportunity to play with fellow former Terrapins in the Olympics and on the U.S. Women’s National Team. To this day, the University of Maryland remains one of the best field hockey programs in the country.

“Maryland is and has been for decades one of the top programs in the nation, thanks to Missy,” she said. “One thing I think is an important characteristic to get onto the National Team is just having a humble work ethic and I think that’s something that almost every athlete that steps on the field in a Maryland uniform has, because that’s the kind of player that Missy recruits.”

In early August, it was announced that Smith Puzo would be inducted into the Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame in the Class of 2021, which she claims to be one of the greatest honors of her entire career.

“It is truly one of my ultimate athletic accomplishments,” Smith Puzo said. “I think Maryland Athletics was really the driver of my post-collegiate success and was also the reason that I developed into the woman that I am today. I really credit, not only the university but the athletic department and the people that were surrounding me during my career for much of my success in life. This honor really means the world to me.”