For all the successes of last year’s field hockey team—including a shutout win over a tough Skidmore squad and a four-game winning streak in league play—they were occasionally plagued with inconsistency. Despite racking up an impressive 5-2 record in Liberty League play, the team was only 3-6 against non-league opponents.
Consistency is the prevailing theme Head Coach Bridget Lanoir has been stressing to the team so far. “We want to make sure we maintain the consistency from non-league to league all throughout the year,” she said. “We did finish 5-2 in our league last year and it was a great accomplishment, but I think we’re really going focus in on making sure that play level, regardless of the competition, remains at a high point.”
The team is returning a strong core of leaders, including captains Laurie Young ’06 and Amanda Lund ’06, who will be vital in providing that consistency and leading by example for the whole team. Both Young and Lund are coming off all-league years.
“I expect a lot from them,” commented Lanoir. “They’re very focused academically as well as athletically, which helps a lot as far as goals for the freshmen.”
Finding that motivation to be consistent is even more important considering the team’s schedule. In addition to tough league match-ups against William Smith, St. Lawrence, and Skidmore, RPI has non-league games against Middlebury College—the national runner-up two years running—and Ursinus College, which has been ranked in the top five nationally in the recent past.
Despite the tough schedule, Lanoir remains optimistic. “I think we’re better off at this point now than we were last year… Everybody came in with a goal in mind, in terms of how well they wanted to do, what they wanted to accomplish,” she said.
With these goals in mind, the team has been better able to hone individual skills in practices to date. Lanoir wants to keep doing so in the future, as well, stating, “I think we’re going to focus more on individual short-term goals—really improving stickwork and basic things. If we get the basic things up to a heightened level, we can accomplish a lot more as a unit.”
The team will also look to integrate a strong freshman class into the mix. Lanoir singled out Kerri Clark and Sarah Stylinski as two players who can make an immediate contribution on the scoreboard.
It all starts Saturday at 1 pm at Nazareth, for a non-league match-up against the Golden Flyers. Establishing early momentum will be extremely important for the Red Hawks. “We’ve lost the first game in the past two years,” noted Lanoir, adding, “but we want to make sure we’re able to go to the competition, make sure we have as good a chance as we’ve ever had to think about winning.”
With a strong core of returners and a promising crop of freshmen, however, the team will probably be thinking about winning a lot this year.
