|
Field hockey
looks to find their place in new conference
Ty Brueilly
Pop quiz: Here
at Appalachian State University, what was the very first varsity
sport for women, and when was it founded? The sport is field hockey,
and it was founded 32 years ago. If you didn't pass the quiz, don't
worry, you're in good company.
Field hockey
is the forgotten varsity sport here at Appalachian State, but it
shouldn't be. This is not a club sport; this is the real deal. Field
hockey players spend just as much time and energy with this sport
as with any other. But many times these women don't get the credit
they deserve. "It's sad that we put so much time and dedication
into this sport and professors don't even know that we have a team,"
said senior captain and midfielder Kim Rohrs. Junior midfielder
Mandi Martin said "It makes me sad that a majority of the students
don't even know that we even have a field hockey team.
I wish people
would give it a chance and learn more about it." Pop quiz number
two: How do you play field hockey, and what are the rules? Don't
worry if you don't know this one either--you're still in good company.
Field hockey is not exactly like ice hockey and it's not exactly
like soccer; it's a mixture of both.
"When people
watch it they don't get excited because they don't understand the
rules. The biggest rule is that the ball can't touch your feet ...
If you can understand that one thing, you can almost understand
the game completely," said Rohrs.
The actual
setup is like soccer; there are the same positions and the same
number of players on the turf. The goals are smaller, and the corners
are a lot different. Players use a stick similar to an ice hockey
stick. Tthey can only score from a sixteen-yard semicircle, unlike
soccer, where players can score from anywhere.
Pop quiz number
three: In which conference does the Appalachian State field hockey
team play ? This one seems easy, but it's not the Southern Conference.
They play in the Northern Pacific Conference.
This is the
first year the team has been in this conference, which includes
Davidson, Stanford, Southwest Missouri State, St. Louis, University
of the Pacific, and the University of California--Berkley.
The team credits
their joining this conference to their new coach, Patience Harrison,
who arrived last year as an intern coach. "She just came and made
waves for us," said Rohrs. "No one expected a one-year intern coach
to come and do all this stuff and get us into a conference.
Women's field
hockey has never been in a conference in its thirty-two year history,
and here comes this coach who was willing to try her hardest for
us and show everybody it can actually be done if you work hard on
it."
Senior captain
and sweeper Meredith White said, "One thing that is really important
about us being successful this year is that our athletics directors
reached out to us in (funding)this. If we don't do well, they might
think about not paying for us to stay in this conference. This is
our year to show them we belong in this conference.
We want to prove
to them that we deserve it." The team plans to prove its worth by
the achieving certain goals. "My main goal for the season is to
be successful by being over a .500 team," said Harrison. "I see
us doing this through perfecting our fundamentals, such as stick
work, accurate passing and overall skills.
These goals
are within our reach because all of our girls have great attitudes.
They are excellent workers with excellent work ethics. They are
all self motivated ... I feel blessed to work with so many talented,
hard-working women." "Last Spring we laid out some specific goals,"
said White. "The short-corner is an important part of the game and
we
have goals for
that. We also need to focus on swinging the ball from the left side
of the field to the right. We have tactical goals--we plan to think
on the field rather than react, like by paying attention to how
the defense is playing and adjusting to them, and by paying attention
to the offense and adjusting to them.
That way we
can break down the game and do what we want to." "We have two assistant
coaches (Ryan Langford and Manfred Schroeder) that have national
and international experience," said Rohrs. "They are teaching us
a different aspect, a higher level of play. We have always been
taught the traditional, college women's field hockey.
They are teaching
us the next level of higher and difficult play, which mainly focuses
on the head game." Freshman Jesse Umstead said "My goal is to soak
up all the information the coaches give us and use it in the game."
The team comes
into the season with experience and new motivation. "We are a really
cohesive team," said senior Jennifer Ridenoure. "We stick together
and really get along. We're a family, and that's what will make
us successful." "Each player is molding herself and making herself
be that player," said White.
"Everyone is
willing to work hard, get better and learn the new skills. Everyone
gets to practice early and leaves late so that they can all practice
the new skills. The way the team looks now, we have a great chance"
"Our motivation is that we now have a conference and we can win
the conference tournament and go to the NCAA tournament," said Ridenoure.
"That's our incentive."
The team begins
the season with a very difficult schedule. The toughest opponents
include Duke, Stanford and Wake Forest. The toughest games in the
sense of travelling include Louisville, Michigan State and Southwest
Missouri State. The eighteen-woman team is out for revenge on Duke
because two seasons ago they lost in a heartbreaker by one goal.
"It would be
good to win every game, but it would be great to beat Duke," said
Rohrs. So now that you know a little bit about field hockey and
a little bit about what ASU's team has done to get where it is,
make your way out to a home game and support these hard-working,
dedicated women.
|
