Collegiate field hockey has finally come to an end. Teams have been working extremely hard since preseason to get to the NCAA Championships. There have been many upsets this season while teams work to defend their NCAA title but came up short. It came down to teamwork. We can’t say who wanted it more because we are almost positive everyone wanted it equally. But, it came down to which team worked best together, and leadership.
Let us take you through a recap of Division l, ll, and lll NCAA Championships.
Division l:
Syracuse field hockey won the program’s first National Championship and the first-ever women’s National Championship in school history against UNC Tar Heels. During the game, Emma Russell became Syracuse’s all-time leader in points, and her teammates Jess Jecko and Alyssa Manley, seniors, became the winningest class in program history!
Syracuse scored early when Liz Sack carried the ball baseline and sent a pass to Russell when she fired the ball past the Tar Heels goalkeeper 8:30 into the game. Cuse was fired up after that goal and certainly took advantage of it. Alma Fenne took the ball into the circle and backhanded into the corner to put the lead up 2-0.
UNC worked to close the lead but it wasn’t enough as both Zoe Wilson and Lemma Lamison finished off scoring for Cuse to end the game 4-2.
Divison ll:
In a nail-biting matchup against East Stroudsburg University and Merrimack University that went into overtime, senior forward Ally Roth scored off of a penally stroke 4:48 into overtime to give ESU its first-ever NCAA Division ll field hockey championship 1-0.
Roth is a two-time NFHCA All-American first team selection, and scored her 21st goal of the season. ESU dominated most of the game and held shot advantages 28-19 and corners 18-10.
ESU reached the championships after an impressive 6-2 victory over West Chester.
Merrimack was also playing for its first national title, and advanced to the championships after a 1-0 win against Stonehill.
Divison lll:
Middlebury College claims its first Dlll Championship in 17 years in a 1-0 victory against Bowdoin College. Freshman Grace Jennings scored the only goal of the game. Jennings collected the ball off of a pass from Pam Schulman, and ripped it past the goalkeeper for her seventh goal of the season.
Although Bowdoin held the advantage with 17-14 in shots, Middlebury held a 9-5 advantage in corners.
Middlebury got to the NCAA Championship with wins over Franklin & Marshall, William Smith, and defending champions TCNJ.
So, that ends the season for collegiate field hockey. It was a year of firsts for many of the teams listed above. However, all of the teams have a lot to be proud of. Teamwork, dedication, and unity is what brought a lot of the teams to bring home the NCAA title.
