After falling to Skidmore University in the Elite 8 game of the NCAA tournament last season, this year’s women’s field hockey team wanted another run at the national championship.
With five senior leaders having graduated last year, this year’s team knew it had some challenges to overcome. The team finished their season with a loss to Catholic in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Regardless, the Eagles still met some impressive marks.
The field hockey program will graduate two seniors from the team: Danielle Danser and All-American Yvonne Herbster. Clenching a fourth-straight Freedom Conference championship was huge for the young Eagle squad this year.
“The best feeling was when we beat FDU-Florham in overtime to win the Freedom conference championship,” Herbster said. “The team worked hard the whole season to make it to that game, so it was an awesome feeling to be rewarded for all that hard work.”
Even though the Eagles finished with an overall record of 12-9, they were 6-1 in the Freedom Conference. The only loss was a mid-season battle in which the Eagles lost to FDU-Florham in overtime. The Eagles got huge close-game wins against Misericordia and King’s College. Herbster led the team with 37 points, 12 goals and 13 assists. To go with Herbster’s honors, juniors Kelby Bolton and Brittany Moyer earned All-Region honors.
“We had a great run this year, and with a lot of returners coming back, we can only improve,” Bolton said.
This marks the second year in a row that the field hockey program has been stopped just short of their dreams of a national championship.