Spring Slate Continues this Weekend

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The Boston College field hockey team continues its 2017 spring schedule this weekend with back-to-back days of regional action.

On Saturday, the Eagles will head down Commonwealth Ave., to face Boston University in a stand-alone game before formally closing the 2016 season at the team's annual banquet later in the evening. On Sunday, BC will host a four-team play day at the Newton Campus Complex, welcoming Dartmouth, UMass and Providence for a day full of round-robin action.

The Eagles' spring schedule will wrap up on Sunday, April 22, when BC travels to Storrs, Conn., to face Connecticut.

Head coach Kelly Doton recently sat down to talk about the Eagles' off-season training and what she expects from the spring season.

What are your goals in your spring season?
Kelly Doton: We have a great group. I'm really excited getting these guys back on the field. Our whole model is that the spring is the development stage of our year, and that's going to prep us for August. The way our players are preparing all season, this spring is hopefully going to set us up for a successful fall.

I love the spring in the sense that it's a grind, but it's a grind they want. It's hard. It takes a lot of mental focus and physical focus. But again, it preps us for the fall.

What are you focusing on so far?
Doton: We've had a lot of focus on technical skill at speed. The girls came in fit and in shape, and they've really taken ownership of the challenges and goals I had for them. The effort level they have and their willingness to make mistakes in order to master the elite skills I want them to have by the end of spring is really encouraging.

In the spring, I think you can get really in-depth with the detail. The fall comes at you really fast. You have two games a week and it's really a tactical time instead of a technical time. So with the development of the players that's happening between January and April before we get to the tournaments, some of the tactical stuff really isn't a focus for us right now. But you can really see the growth they've had over the last 11 weeks. And I know that's going to set up us up for success team-wise, not just individually.

How do you handle the competition days in the spring?
Doton: Typically, the springs in the past if we're facing one team, we'll play a full game or split it up into three 20s (20-minute periods). How many subs we have because of injuries and sickness really dictates how long the halves, quarters or periods – whatever – are going to be. When we face BU and UConn, those will be more game-like.

On a play day, like this year when we have Dartmouth, UMass and Providence coming in, they'll typically be 35-minute periods and then two more teams come on. That way it eliminates sitting for all the teams and it's a lot more time to coach in between games, which – again – is part of the whole development in the spring.

The girls look forward to it more than I am because they just want to get outside and compete against teams other than their own teammates.

You started the spring season last weekend with a pair of games. What did you see from the team?
Doton: I think the team was excited to get outside for the first spring competition and put everything together against opponents other than their teammates. There was definitely some rust to shake off, but the best part was putting together some new tactical strategies while applying our technical development.

We had a lot of learning moments in our video session in order to build on those as we head into this weekend. There are growing pains as we move through spring but the goal is to not get frustrated. Our players are working extremely hard and it's been a solid three months for the program.

How is it working with a smaller group in the spring?
Doton: We lost six key contributors. It happens every year: you lose leadership, you lose skilled players who put a lot of minutes in. I love the spring because players step into roles that they didn't necessarily have in the fall. Seeing the leadership grow in the freshman class after the seniors aren't there anymore, the freshmen get a little more comfortable. They start to execute some skills they didn't necessarily do in the fall.

Boston College Athletics

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