Boston College Athletics
Field Hockey Looking To Revitalize Success in 2018
August 16, 2018 | Field Hockey, #ForBoston Files
The Eagles are hunting for a return to the national tournament.
The Boston College field hockey team was barely a week into its preseason, and already the summer heat was taking its toll. The sun beat down on the Newton Campus turf field, and the humidity hung in the air like glue. Players were tired and sweating, but they pushed through, determined to find the next level.
The march back to the NCAA Tournament was well underway.
"It's comforting to me that we're getting better and better every day," head coach Kelly Doton said. "Preseason is meant to be tough. It's physically and mentally exhausting. You go through it now so you're able to handle the adversity when you get in a game. It's because you trained in it, and the team is doing really well with it."
The 2018 Eagles enter their season with a sting from last season. They finished the season over .500 with an 11-8 overall record, but three one-goal losses conspired to keep the team out of the conference win column. It resulted in BC missing the national tournament for the first time in five years, and though it's in the past, it's there as a reminder of how tough winning really is.
"It's why sports are so great," Doton said. "You can have the utmost of highs and the lowest of lows every day, and we had them. There were two overtime losses to (ACC regular season champion and No. 2-ranked) Duke and an overtime loss to (ACC postseason champion and No. 4-ranked) North Carolina. If we win those three games, it's a completely different feeling.
"But at the same time, we won every out of conference game except for (No. 1-ranked) UConn," she said. "You need to experience those wins and not just think about the losses. If you're down in the dumps, you won't get over the speedbumps of the upcoming season. Our team has done a really good job of letting the past be in the past but not forget."
The 2017 Eagles saw a new crop of athletes take flight as the team's core. A roster with only three seniors saw freshmen playing a lion's share of minutes, and the emergence of several players will set BC up for success in 2018.
All five leading scorers are back from a year ago, including Fusine Govaert. Govaert scored six goals last year, including three over a five-game stretch in the second half of the year. She scored two game winning goals as she worked into the starting lineup for the final 12 games of the year.
Govaert and Jaime Natale broke into the lineup as freshmen last season, and they combined with Lucy Lytle, a 2018 team captain, and Brooke Matherson to form a goal-scoring punch. All four are back, including Matherson, who was granted a fifth year of eligibility after suffering a season-ending injury against Louisville.
"The forwards have a lot of freshmen who are now sophomores," Doton said. "So they now understand the system, our lingo and how we operate within the culture of the program. That experience is key and hopefully will play out (for success)."
They will play in front of a defensive core that three players amass over 1,000 minutes last season. Frederique Haverhals and Ymke Rose Gote are back as co-captains with Lytle, and Elizabeth Dennehy started 16 games as a back. They helped goalkeeper Sarah Dwyer record three shutouts in 2017.
To that, BC added more pieces. Sky Caron was named one of the best field hockey players in New England last year at Governor's Academy and played in the United States National Team development pipeline for the U-17 team during her sophomore and junior seasons. She enters The Heights with Eva Van de Mierop and Nell Webber. Van de Mierop played for the Belgium national team and Webber was a Junior Olympics selection and Philadelphia Senior All-Star.
The last piece is Jonna Kennedy, a freshman from nearby Watertown, Massachusetts who will pressure Dwyer, still only a junior, for playing time in goal. She broke the national record for most consecutive games without a loss while playing for the Raiders en route to Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic honors.
"We have some great field hockey players competing for minutes," Doton said. "Jonna will give us a goalkeeping competition between her and Sarah. I don't know how that's going to play out, and preseason will help us determine that. Sky is coming in with experience on the junior national team. Eva just competed on the U-18 European championships.
"Those two are going to compete for some backfield position," she said. "With them on the field with a combination of (Haverhals), our defense has gotten so much stronger. Whoever is going to win that goaltending competition is going to have three solid players in front of her, and then there's Ymke in the center mid position."
It's giving BC optimism that a return to the national tournament is right there, and statistically, it is. The Eagles statistically played even with opponents last year, outscoring them 42-40 with a 293-249 shot advantage. It implies that if BC can find that next gear and next level, it can dive into the thick of a race in which it is still a major factor.
"I have a motto that a ball will never score if we never get it on the cage," Doton said. "So we spend time in those areas and working on our free hits, attacking 25s. There are all sorts of scenarios that we practice because if we can do it in practice, everyone understands (the situation). It'll be there when we need it. We want to make people play when we have a card and are down numbers or if the opponent has a card and we're up numbers. When the team gets comfort in those scenarios, it'll be ready to go."
That's imperative given the razor thin margin of error in the ACC. Every team finished above .500 last season, and six teams made the NCAA Tournament. So turning even one or two of those results into victories lands BC on the dance floor, but that's also easier said than done given the competition level it sees.
"We always talk about at conference meetings that we beat up on each other," Doton said. "Everyone can beat everyone. Virginia was 3-3 in the regular season one year and went onto win the ACC Tournament. That means it's up for grabs at every moment. We're easily the best field conference in the country. It's good that we always face each other but the games are really intense. These are some of the best players in the world. Every ACC game means a lot. So by the end, if you're ranked first or seventh, anyone can win."
The Eagles, ranked at No. 13 on the NFHCA Preseason Coaches' Poll, open up the regular season on August 24 when they play at Quinnipiac. BC opens its home schedule on September 7 against Wake Forest following a trip to Maryland for the ACC/Big Ten Cup.
The march back to the NCAA Tournament was well underway.
"It's comforting to me that we're getting better and better every day," head coach Kelly Doton said. "Preseason is meant to be tough. It's physically and mentally exhausting. You go through it now so you're able to handle the adversity when you get in a game. It's because you trained in it, and the team is doing really well with it."
The 2018 Eagles enter their season with a sting from last season. They finished the season over .500 with an 11-8 overall record, but three one-goal losses conspired to keep the team out of the conference win column. It resulted in BC missing the national tournament for the first time in five years, and though it's in the past, it's there as a reminder of how tough winning really is.
"It's why sports are so great," Doton said. "You can have the utmost of highs and the lowest of lows every day, and we had them. There were two overtime losses to (ACC regular season champion and No. 2-ranked) Duke and an overtime loss to (ACC postseason champion and No. 4-ranked) North Carolina. If we win those three games, it's a completely different feeling.
"But at the same time, we won every out of conference game except for (No. 1-ranked) UConn," she said. "You need to experience those wins and not just think about the losses. If you're down in the dumps, you won't get over the speedbumps of the upcoming season. Our team has done a really good job of letting the past be in the past but not forget."
The 2017 Eagles saw a new crop of athletes take flight as the team's core. A roster with only three seniors saw freshmen playing a lion's share of minutes, and the emergence of several players will set BC up for success in 2018.
All five leading scorers are back from a year ago, including Fusine Govaert. Govaert scored six goals last year, including three over a five-game stretch in the second half of the year. She scored two game winning goals as she worked into the starting lineup for the final 12 games of the year.
Govaert and Jaime Natale broke into the lineup as freshmen last season, and they combined with Lucy Lytle, a 2018 team captain, and Brooke Matherson to form a goal-scoring punch. All four are back, including Matherson, who was granted a fifth year of eligibility after suffering a season-ending injury against Louisville.
"The forwards have a lot of freshmen who are now sophomores," Doton said. "So they now understand the system, our lingo and how we operate within the culture of the program. That experience is key and hopefully will play out (for success)."
They will play in front of a defensive core that three players amass over 1,000 minutes last season. Frederique Haverhals and Ymke Rose Gote are back as co-captains with Lytle, and Elizabeth Dennehy started 16 games as a back. They helped goalkeeper Sarah Dwyer record three shutouts in 2017.
To that, BC added more pieces. Sky Caron was named one of the best field hockey players in New England last year at Governor's Academy and played in the United States National Team development pipeline for the U-17 team during her sophomore and junior seasons. She enters The Heights with Eva Van de Mierop and Nell Webber. Van de Mierop played for the Belgium national team and Webber was a Junior Olympics selection and Philadelphia Senior All-Star.
The last piece is Jonna Kennedy, a freshman from nearby Watertown, Massachusetts who will pressure Dwyer, still only a junior, for playing time in goal. She broke the national record for most consecutive games without a loss while playing for the Raiders en route to Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic honors.
"We have some great field hockey players competing for minutes," Doton said. "Jonna will give us a goalkeeping competition between her and Sarah. I don't know how that's going to play out, and preseason will help us determine that. Sky is coming in with experience on the junior national team. Eva just competed on the U-18 European championships.
"Those two are going to compete for some backfield position," she said. "With them on the field with a combination of (Haverhals), our defense has gotten so much stronger. Whoever is going to win that goaltending competition is going to have three solid players in front of her, and then there's Ymke in the center mid position."
It's giving BC optimism that a return to the national tournament is right there, and statistically, it is. The Eagles statistically played even with opponents last year, outscoring them 42-40 with a 293-249 shot advantage. It implies that if BC can find that next gear and next level, it can dive into the thick of a race in which it is still a major factor.
"I have a motto that a ball will never score if we never get it on the cage," Doton said. "So we spend time in those areas and working on our free hits, attacking 25s. There are all sorts of scenarios that we practice because if we can do it in practice, everyone understands (the situation). It'll be there when we need it. We want to make people play when we have a card and are down numbers or if the opponent has a card and we're up numbers. When the team gets comfort in those scenarios, it'll be ready to go."
That's imperative given the razor thin margin of error in the ACC. Every team finished above .500 last season, and six teams made the NCAA Tournament. So turning even one or two of those results into victories lands BC on the dance floor, but that's also easier said than done given the competition level it sees.
"We always talk about at conference meetings that we beat up on each other," Doton said. "Everyone can beat everyone. Virginia was 3-3 in the regular season one year and went onto win the ACC Tournament. That means it's up for grabs at every moment. We're easily the best field conference in the country. It's good that we always face each other but the games are really intense. These are some of the best players in the world. Every ACC game means a lot. So by the end, if you're ranked first or seventh, anyone can win."
The Eagles, ranked at No. 13 on the NFHCA Preseason Coaches' Poll, open up the regular season on August 24 when they play at Quinnipiac. BC opens its home schedule on September 7 against Wake Forest following a trip to Maryland for the ACC/Big Ten Cup.
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