EMPIRE 8 CHAMPIONS!!!

WAHOO! EMPIRE 8 CHAMPIONS! GO DUCKS! Clinching the Empire 8 Championship earned our Ducks an Automatic Bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Ducks will host Eastern on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 5:00pm! See you there!

Hibachi in TOKYO!

…well not really, but that’s what the restaurant was called. To rewind a bit, the Ducks set off on a big road trip a couple weekends ago. The first double game weekend for all the newbies, meaning not just one but TWO nights in a hotel to bond with our teammates. But the best part about the weekend, besides playing and winning both games in overtime (which in retrospect may have made things a bit too exciting), was definitely the Ducks "Night Out" on Saturday. Everyone got dressed in their best and we set off to eat some delicious Hibachi at a great restaurant called Tokyo which was not too far from our hotel. All the girls were excited to get to eat a "real meal," one that we did not have to pay for, and get to spend time with all the parents who drove so far to come see us play. Unfortunately the restaurant did not have a big enough room to fit everyone, so we had to sit the parents in a different room. Lucky for them they were the lucky ducks that night because the chefs decided to go to their tables first and let them have dinner before all the starving players. Fortunately for us, we found a way to keep ourselves entertained by throwing pieces of ice on to the hot stovetop. That is, until Coach caught us, but soon she too realized how entertaining it was and everyone was enjoying the sight of the sizzling ice.




Finally the chefs arrived at our tables and we were all EXTREMELY happy to have the delicious food being cooked right in front of us, especially Kara who had been practically salivating in her impatience to eat. The chefs put on a good show juggling their spatulas, throwing eggs and catching them in their hats, and of course the best part, the onion volcano!

The food was delicious and the chefs provided some great entertainment for us. Needless to say, our tummies were full and we all had the energy to play in the game on Sunday.

HALLOWEEN SHENANIGANS!

DETAILS TO FOLLOW!!

Hartwick/RPI ROAD TRIP!

Hello from the Broderick sisters!! Thursday night sparked the theme of the weekend. Liz quoted the movie “Elf.” She discussed the part of the movie when everyone was lacking Christmas spirit. Once everyone started believing in Santa his sleigh began to fly.
Thus, our motto for the weekend became, “Make the sleigh fly.” Teamwork was our main goal. Saturday we played Hartwick in an Empire 8 contest of the undefeated. It was a battle that we fought together and won together. It was an exciting, exhilarating double overtime victory. Liz “Voldy” Zmijewski scored the lone goal early in the second overtime period. Jessica “Walnuts” Ablonczy made a pass to Liz who dribbled the ball right into the circle and ripped a shot to the near post. It had too much “mustard” on it for the goalie to save. It was Liz’s first goal EVER! We are now 4-0 in the Empire 8.
After the game we traveled onto Albany, where we spent the night before our game versus Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Sunday. Once we arrived at the hotel, we got dressed up and went out to Hibachi for dinner. We woke up Sunday morning and had a delicious breakfast at the hotel. They had all sorts of cereal, oatmeal, eggs, waffles, fruit, bagels, and pastries. We departed the hotel at 11:15am ready for a showdown of Tech schools.
It was much chillier than Saturday’s game and we hoped for no rain or snow. The game began at 1pm. We were one goal down with less than a minute left to play. With 45 seconds left to play we were granted a corner. Meghan Broderick inserted the ball to Mallory Swanson who passed the ball to Marguerite Chavez who shot the ball. The rebound was played back to Marguerite put the ball into the cage. This led us to our second overtime game of the weekend.
About three minutes into overtime, Liz passed the ball from the midfield to Marguerite. Marguerite eliminated a defender to expose a 2 vs. 1 opportunity against the goalie with Lauren Griggs. Marguerite passed the ball to Lauren, who shot the ball in the goal!
Good Bye Central New York! Welcome to Hoboken!

FHOC BOOT CAMP!

CLIFF AND WALNUTS... ARMY CRAWL!

"BILL" AND "GUTZ" ... TEAMWORK!

MARGUERITE AND GRIGGLET . . . BALANCE AND STRENGTH!

"TINK" AND SAM ... BEST FORM!

MEOW AND CATHY, WORK THOSE ABS!

MARGUERITE SHOWING HER BOOT CAMP PRIDE



Each year there is a themed practice, this year’s theme was BOOT CAMP! Everyone got into the theme... even the freshmen, some of which went knocking on doors to find clothes to make sure they were in Army attire. One teammate, Jill “Bill” Price, went to the extent of taping leaves to her shirt; for her excellent outfit she received the "Most like the Scenery" Award. Best Dressed went to Megan Clifford, she arrived in top fashion, skirt, face paint and even Army shades.

The practice consisted of an intense foot work shuttle, circuit, stair sprints, and relay! The practice was set up so everything you did, you did with your partner, no man left behind! We cannot succeed without each other!!! The foot work went by like a breeze, I think because everyone was still super-pumped about our outfits. Next up was the circuit and stair sprints. We each grabbed a partner and split into two groups; half went to the steps the other to the circuit.

At the circuit, each station was a minute on- working 110%- to a minute rest, there were 9 stations. We worked on abs, legs, and arms. We did “Hi Moms,” partner sits (which are like wall sits but a medicine ball is passed between you and your partner as you lean against each other- reference Sam and Tink (me) picture), and crunches while passing a medicine ball over your head to your partner. Each circuit seemed to work the whole body while still focus on a core group of muscles. While one group did the circuit the other ran the steps of the stadium.
The stadium running consisted of sprinting up the steps, sprinting across, then jogging down and back to the starting point for recovery. With each new lap, we rotated between sprinting up every step ... to sprinting up every other ... to hopping on one foot .... and finally to jumping up them ... then .... REPEAT!!! This continued until the other group finished their circuit.

The last part was probably the most fun … A RACE! You and your partner worked together to push ten balls with your sticks from the end line to the 25 yard line. It was then a sprint to the 50. From the 50 to the next 25 was TRANSFORMERS, which are like moving push-ups. You start off in the plank postion...abs tight, hips tucked...and while moving laterally you go to a high plank and then back down to a low plank! You have to have your special field hockey player demonstrate for you! Then from the 25 to end line and back to the 25 was a sprint. From the 25 to 50 was an ARMY CRAWL! Gutz won best Army crawl ... by the Gutz is in ROTC. Then we sprinted from the 50 to the 25 and finally once at the 25 we picked up our sticks and moved the ten balls back over the end line. All the balls had to be moved at the same time with you and your partner working together! The first place team was Mary B. and Nicole, second place went to Sam R. and me., the writers of this fabulous blog. With the conclusion of the relay our Boot Camp was also over, but the fun and memories we created will last forever!!

If it walks like a duck...

Our one and only ... Ellyn Griggs!

“If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck”….Now that I have your attention and have you intrigued, I would like to update you on these Stevens Ducks here in Hoboken, New Jersey. Yesterday we played our third Empire 8 Conference opponent Utica College here at the Duck Pond (yes it is capitalized haha).
First, I would like to provide the setting. I started my morning by meeting my sister and crazy awesome goalie Ellyn, star defender Sam Moran, and mid/forward Jill “Bill” Price at the wonderful location of our Pierce dining hall for some delicious eggs and pancakes for breakfast. I knew it was going to be a great day because let’s just say the grill prepared the food on their a-game.

After breakfast, Sam and I went to put the team’s laundry into the washing machine and then to an undisclosed location to get our secret buddy’s gifts. Before every home game, we get our secret buddy a present as a psych for the game. The names are picked randomly at the beginning of the season and the secret buddy is disclosed at the end of the season. Anywho, after that, we had a little time to ourselves before meeting the team in the locker room for our team talk.

After a good talk and of course team stimulus of listening to pump-up songs in the locker room (Taylor Swift is one of my favorites), we left the locker room to watch the conclusion of the men’s soccer game which resulted in a tie after two overtime periods. We then warmed-up for our game. After the announcements of the starters for the game, Empire 8 mission, and playing of the national anthem, it was GAME TIME!! Almost 6 minutes into the game Jessie “Walnuts” Ablonczy beat defenders a ripped a shot into the circle. I saw the ball making its way towards goal and was not going to allow for a defender to get a stick on it. I deflected the ball in and scored the first goal of the game! J We went into half-time with a 1-0 lead and knew that we had to keep up the intensity to keep the lead since both teams were undefeated in the Empire 8. After getting advice from the coaching staff, the team went ahead to score another 2 goals. One goal came from freshman Marguerite “Marge” Chavez who lifted it into cage – she’s great! The last tally came from senior Jessie “Walnuts” who rocketed the ball to the right corner of the goal. Might I say Walnuts played an amazing game with 3 points for the day and some big plays. What a day for Walnuts to score her first goal!!! For the day, the defense of Sam Weisman, Mallory “Meow” “Meowmix” Swanson, Jill, Christina “Darth” Sedberry, Kara, Nicole, Liz “Voldemort,” and goalie/twin of mine was stellar. On the day, Ellyn had 2 saves to make. Enthusiasm and energy for the game came from the players, coaches, and fans of Stevens Field Hockey. In saying, thank you all for the support! The game yesterday was fun to play and was a great environment.

Now, the Ducks are undefeated in the Empire 8 (3-0 in conference) and at an overall record of 10-2. And, as a short digression, I would like to say Ellyn got her 10th win in goal and has 6 shutouts. Her stellar performance is even shown through her statistics released a few days ago – 3rd in the country in personal goals-against average and 3rd in save percentage. She had an amazing performance in the game vs. Drew and had a career-high 18 saves despite the loss coming in double-overtime for the Ducks. The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) released its defensive statistical rankings. The Ducks were 4th in goals-against average, 8th in shutouts per game, 6th in winning percentage, and 4th for save percentage.

We will look to continue our season this Wednesday at William Paterson University for a 7 pm game. See you there!

-Lauren (“Second Gear” aka “Grigglet, L.” aka “not-Ellyn”)

UPDATES GALORE!

Hello All,

We apologize for the lack of blogging...we have been busy little bees...errr DUCKS! We are currently sitting 9-1 overall and 2-0 in the Empire 8 Conference. We had 2 big games last week. First we took on Rowan. At the time we played they were ranked 12th in the NFHCA Coaches Poll and we were ranked 16th. We played Rowan here at Stevens and it was an awesome Duck Country event. We were able to wear our Away Jerseys at home and it was a lot of fun. We won that game 2-1. Mallory Swanson, aka Meow, (Empire-8 Co-Player of the Week and Womensfieldhockey.com Division III Player of the week) scored both goals off of great offensive teamwork. It was the first time we beat Rowan AND it was the highest ranked team we ever beat. It was incredible!

Last Saturday we played Ithaca on their grass field. It was our 2nd conference game. We traveled to Ithaca the night before, stayed in a hotel and had a great breakfast. We showed up ready to play and ready to win. Lauren "2nd Gear" Griggs scored the game winner and then Meow put in an insurance goal. We left Ithaca with a 2-0 win!

Tonight we play Drew at Drew and they are a tough opponent. We will get off the bus ready to play and to work hard. We are having tons of fun this season and working hard!

See you soon!

Preseason Shenanigans

Well after a looong summer apart, the team is finally back together!!! This season is already shaping up to be a lot different than the last with a fresh group of 12 new faces. The first night of preseason was a night to remember with everyone learning all about the team and each other. Bonds were formed from the moment we started playing Taboo, Balderdash, and Apples to Apples. For the next couple of days we had a crash course in everything field hockey with double sessions and lots of team meals together (breakfast being the best part of the day). We're lucky enough to be in Hoboken where every once in a while the 100 degree heat was cut with a much appreciated Hudson River breeze. With the summer being in full swing we were bound to have at least one thunderstorm, and when that day came we got to play dodgeball in the gym. Dodgeball is a vicious enough sport on its own, but with our team being as competitive as it is, faces were bound to get destroyed. All this competitiveness in the air was taking a serious toll on our bodies, so everyone was making sure to take care of our bodies and prevent any injury. The training room became our second home, and the trainers became our best friends, second only to Bud who was the best chef in the dining hall.

After a lot of practicing it was time to test our skills against some stiff competition. Our scrimmage day consisted of games against both Division I and Division II teams. It was really great to have the opportunity to work out the kinks in our system and give everyone the chance to play against someone different. The freshmen especially got a lot out of the day since they experienced what it is like to play at the college level. Unfortunately the day did not end on the happiest of notes with one of the other teams players getting injured, but hopefully she'll be okay. For the next couple of days we'll be analyzing the game tape and working on everything that we can fix to prepare for our first game against Haverford in 1 week! See you then :)

-Marguerite & Kara

Camp and PreSeason Excitement!

So many of you may know that this week was Steven's Field Hockey Camp. Jess and Val ran the camp. Liz, Erin, Jessy-Walnuts, Allison-Worm, Meghan, Jill-Bill, and Katie Mo all worked the camp, with Lauren, Ellyn, Mel, Megan Clifford, Kara, Allie-Midget and others popping in to play and help out whenever they were around on campus! We had 6 of our incoming freshman, two high school seniors who showed an interest in Stevens, two daughters of Stevens staff and some friends, and then a group of 15 girls from Old Bridge High School come Sunday-Wednesday for overnight camp. Another incoming freshman came for day camp, along with some girls from River Dell High School and a bunch of other younger kids from Hoboken. We even had a few boys who loved playing field hockey!! All in all it was a great few days of hockey! We were able to teach the younger girls some new skills that will hopefully carry over and be very helpful in their high school play, and we were able to get a head start to introducing our incoming freshman to the style of play we use here at Stevens. We played pick-up with the girls every night and it was great to see how much the girls progressed in just a few days. Seeing the high school girls have "battles" instead of hacking away at sticks, using the swing around the back and even seeing some new dodges that we taught them was really great. It feels great to say "Hey, I taught you that and you used it!!" It was also awesome to get a sneak preview of what the team will be like when all of our new Ducks come in August! They are already blending into our team so well, and we can't wait to see what the rest of the freshman are going to bring! At the end of the camp, we wished the high schoolers good luck with their season, and we were filled with excitement about our upcoming season. Despite graduating a great bunch of girls this past spring, Stevens Field Hockey isn't leaving the top ranks any time soon with the group of girls we have coming in!!

Captains!

As mentioned in the previous post, we have elected three players to be our Captains for the 2009 Season. Congratulations to Erin "E" Broderick, Liz "Voldemort" Zmijewski, and Kara "Empanada/Skadoosh" Borzillo! We can't wait until the Fall!

The President's Tea!

This past Sunday Stevens hosted the Accepted Students Reception. For everyone involved, this day is highly anticipated, especially because it involves free food and entertainment! As a member and tri-captain of the field hockey team, myself (Erin Broderick), Liz Zmijewski (a fellow tri-captain), and Allison Shields (a graduating captain) met our team’s incoming freshman in the Schaefer lobby. We had the opportunity to grab coffee, tea, and choose between an assortment of breakfast pastries and fruit while we got to know each other. Ten of our incoming freshman came to the event, including some who traveled 5 or more hours to get here! It’s really exciting to have so many new additions to our team. Each one of them has so much to offer.

We chatted until President Hal Raveche and a few of our peers gave speeches in Canavan arena and made plans to meet again at 4pm. This time our whole team participated in the meet and greet! We met outside of Walker Gymnasium, where the jazz band provided entertainment and hors d'oeuvres and desserts were served. I was really excited that there was sushi, it’s my favorite. I’m only disappointed I did not have a chance to make a trip to the chocolate fountain for chocolate covered strawberries.

What a way to celebrate the amazing class that Stevens accepted this year. The rain held out for a beautiful sunny day and the food and speeches were wonderful. The class of 2013 seem like they have a lot to offer. The reception provided the beginning of the excitement that I have for our field hockey program and our future. Now I only have to wait for August!

Post-Spring Update

Defensive corner!! (photo credit to my mom!)

So Drexel has come and gone. It was a great day, we really got to work out kinks on the field and play with the new self-start rule. Despite being blustery and chilly, it was a pretty nice day, no rain so we can't complain! The level of play was pretty tough at times, but we held our own very well! I was very proud of my ducks. After playing amongst ourselves for a month it was great to get out there and see what we do as one unit against other teams. At the end of the day I was just super excited for the fall because if we look that good now, we are going to be AWESOME next season!!

Speaking of this Fall....yesterday was Accepted Students day here at Stevens, and aside from getting yummy food (rumors of bacon wrapped scallops were TRUE!) we got to meet some of our incoming freshmen!! We have a great bunch of girls coming to join the team! Their personality and level of play is definitely going to make this Fall an exciting season! We can't wait!!!

-Liz

Drexel this saturday!!!

So, hopefully EVERYONE reading this knows that we will be playing at Drexel on Saturday!! If you read down a few posts you can see the schedule we will be playing. Everyone is getting super PUMPED! It is by far the highlight of my spring. We have been working hard to be able to compete and hold our ground with the high caliber of the DI schools that will be there, and we are looking AWESOME! Our volunteers have been coming out and playing with us (Shout out to Duncan, Daniel, Meiko, Megan, Dennis and Enriquo!) We have been fortunate enough to have later practices during the week so that our volunteers and seniors can come and play with us, even having enough to play full field with two FULL teams (including two goalies!) last week. Everyone is working hard at our team practices and individuals with coach, and the improvements can be seen in everyone! We are definitely going to give Rutgers, LaSalle and Drexel a run for their money this weekend. Hope to see all of our fans out supporting us and to see a sneak preview of how great we're going to be this fall! -Special shout out to Kara and Karen and the rest of the Women's Lacrosse team, who was recently ranked 13th in the IWLCA poll!! They have both had awesome seasons so far, Kara scored 3 goals this past weekend, and Karen is 4th on the team in scoring with 19!! They have a big weekend coming up as they play their conference rival Ithaca on Saturday while we are at Drexel, you can follow them the same way you follow us at www.stevensducks.com. Good Luck Women's Lacrosse!!!!! -Liz "Voldie" Zmijewski

Field Trip to New Meadlowlands!!

So...for those of you that don't know, Kara and I (Liz) are both civil engineering majors, and about a month ago we had the privilege of going on a FIELD TRIP!! We are currently taking a class with our teams academic adviser, Leslie Brunell, and she organized a field trip to the New Meadowlands. On a blustery Friday in February Kara and I ventured with about 40 other civil engineering students to the current location of Giants Stadium. Once there we went into one of the most intense construction trailers I have ever seen. You would never imagine how nice those little boxy trailers can get inside! We met with a Skanska representative who told us all about the construction that was going on currently and what would eventually be happening. Some fun facts about the New Meadowlands:
-The New Meadowland stadium is 30 feet away from the old Giant Stadium
-The whole project is a joint project split 50-50 with the Giants and the Jets
-Apparently the Jets want all the fancy schmansy stuff in their lockerrooms and the owners suits, not the Giants! (Kara and I are both Eagle's fans, so we like making fun of both teams)
-The project is actually AHEAD of schedule right now! The stadium should be finished by the end of the upcoming season, and as soon as the last NFL game is played in Giants Stadium they are going to start taking it down.
-Giant Stadium is going to be taken down piece by piece, not exploded due to its close proximity to the New Meadlowlands

Kara and I walked all around the stadium, walking down on field level, up in the owners suits, behind where the scoreboards are going to be and along where the fan seating is going to be. We got to wear hard hats, safety vests and safety glasses!!! Despite being absolutely FREEZING and windy we had a blast! It was really cool to see what goes on behind the scenes, and being able to see things that we had drawn in previous summer jobs and learned about in class was really fun. We would walk around saying "Hey look, REBAR!" and other silly things. It just goes to show that you are never to old to go on a field trip!!

3 v. 1

Alli, Liz, and Meghan... Liz and Meg on the Double... Alli on the Split! Triple-Team...Awesome! That's how we do it!

Drexel Tournament Schedule... COME WATCH US!

Below is our the schedule for the Drexel Tournament. We will be there all day, please come and join us! We will be implementing all the new rules...including the AWESOME "Self-Start" rule, which the team loves! (Especially Erin)

April 4 Drexel Play Day at Buckley Field

Drexel	vs.	Lafayette	9:00 - 9:35
Rutgers	vs.	Stevens	9:45 - 10:20
LaSalle	vs.	Lafayette	10:30 -11:05
Drexel	vs.	Rutgers	11:15 - 11:50
LaSalle	vs.	Stevens	12:00 - 12:35
Rutgers	vs.	Lafayette	12:45 - 1: 20
Drexel	vs.	Stevens	1:30 - 2:05
Rutgers	vs.	LaSalle	2:15 - 2:50
Drexel	vs.	Stevens	3:00 - 3:35
Drexel	vs.	LaSalle	3:45 - 4: 20

JOIN US FOR SOME AWESOME HOCKEY! WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE!

SPRING SEASON!

So it’s that time again…spring season! It is finally here after four long months. All of the girls are so excited to be playing together again. Our first practice was about three weeks ago, right before spring break. This spring season is about 5 weeks long and we are working to prepare for our tournament at Drexel as well as continue to prepare for our regular season next fall. At the Drexel tournament we will be playing against division I teams and we will be the only division III team competing. Last year we did very well so this year we want to do just as well. Even though we lost five seniors last year, many of them have agreed to come back and help coach us in our spring season. In addition to those seniors who will be helping us, we are also looking forward to the upcoming night practices when all of the volunteers come to Stevens to play with us full field. The weather continues to get nicer and all the snow has melted off the turf. Individuals with coach have started and all of us are working hard to work on the things we need to improve on. Everyone is so eager to work hard and improve together as a team because like coach says, we have already begun training for next season!

-Melanie Richards

National Girls and Women in Sports Day!

The 23^rd annual celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day went better than planned at Stevens Institute of Technology. This annual extravaganza is so special. Not only is it a day to recognize those female athletes who have already established themselves as outstanding people, but it is a day to celebrate the commitment they have made to their sport, their team, and their strive for being the best, healthiest women they can be. Additionally, this day is so unique in that it could potentially be the beginning of a long athletic career in a young girl’s lives. The significance this day might have had on them is indescribable.

Now, let me introduce myself. My name is Lauren Griggs. I am a sophomore biomedical engineer here at Stevens as well as a varsity field hockey athlete. I am active all over campus but every year this event has a special place in my heart. On February 4, 2009, I had the privilege of teaching all different sorts of people, young and old, men and women, boys and girls the art of field hockey. For some, it was their first time hearing about the sport. For others, it was a chance to hit a pretty hard ball with a stick.

The planning of the drills we would do with the various groups all was worth it when we saw the faces (smiles of course) of all of those who participated in the field hockey station. The lesson began by giving everyone a little background about field hockey as a sport and then went into the proper way of holding a stick. From there, everyone was quite avid to pass the ball to one another. This sight was a memorable one. Seeing the groups pass together in pairs and understand how important teamwork is was so rewarding. After that, the next drill was dribbling. One by one, the novice field hockey players dribbled around cones and learned how difficult it was to keep control of the ball. By the end though, I was saying to everyone “WOW! We have some expert field hockey players here!” The last drill that we did before it was time to rotate sports was a little “shooting.” Everyone stood on a line and tried to score on me as I was standing in goal as the “goalie.” Let me say though, I am by no means a goalie. At Stevens, I am an attacker – I’m the one who is a nuisance to the opposing goalie. My identical twin sister is actually a goalie and probably could have been a better goalie. I digressed. So, all of the athletes are standing on the line. After the count of three, all of them were going to try to pass the ball by me and score in the goalie. I can swallow my pride enough to say that almost every single pass went by me in the goal. If that is not enough evidence to show talented all of these athletes of the day was, I have no idea what is.

After the rotation of the groups who went to field hockey, soccer, tennis, volleyball, and wrestling was completed, the entire group united upstairs for some pizza, snacks, and drinks to get back their energy from the days activities. When they were done, some of the kids even got their faces painted with “Stevens” written across their face (one boy had me write “pepsi” on his cheek too – he definitely knew advertising). From there, everyone with their bright yellow Stevens Duck Country shirts on (those they received at the beginning of the event) went in to see the women’s basketball game. It was a great game and also senior day. Senior Dani Dudek showed her stuff on the court and all of the fans loved the intensity and aggressiveness of the game. During half time, there was a special basketball contest where the kids competed.

All in all, the day was eventful and informative. I hope the children learned as much from us (the athletes) as we learned from them while also having a good time celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

And they never cease to AMAZE me...

SENIOR - HILLARY PAUL


Part of being a member of the Stevens community means that you are willing to lead, that you are willing to go beyond what is required, the ability to excel. The Stevens Ducks Field Hockey members excel in all aspects of their lives, on and off the field. I am continuously presented with reasons why they are amazing young women...I should be surprised at all they do, but I am not. It is just who they are and part of what makes them GREAT!

Check out this article about our own Hillary Paul...Captain, 2nd Team All-American, 1st Team All-Region, Biomedical Engineer...and so much more!

http://www.phisigmasigma.org/PHISIGMASIGMA/PHISIGMASIGMA/inAction/CollegianSpotlight/CollegianprofileHillaryPaul/Default.aspx

A Banquet to Remember!

This past Sunday afternoon, the Championship Ducks and their families joined together in the Bissinger Room to celebrate an AMAZING season and to recognize the Seniors for their outstanding contribution to the continual success of the Ducks the past 4 years. The luncheon commenced around 11am, with a phenomenal breakfast buffet taunting everyone's hunger... a special thanks to Annette from catering and Barbara from special functions for making the event so wonderful. Coach Reed spoke a few words, but then knew that in order to gain the attention of everyone in the room, she must first allow them to overflow their plates with every type of breakfast food imaginable. Bagels, Waffles, Eggs, Fruit, you name it- we had it.

As teammates and families stuffed their faces and went for round 2, a wonderful highlight video created by Kara Borzillo was played on the projector for all of us to reminisce on a successful year. After the video ended, senior speeches began. Two underclassmen stepped up to express the teams appreciation for each individual senior, as well as funny stories and memories, followed by a speech given by Coach Reed on each of the 5 amazing girls. The speeches were well-written and showed everyone how truly influential the Seniors have been on this team. A box of tissues were clearly set down at the beginning of the first speech to prepare for the expected waterworks.

After the speeches and photos were taken, various people spoke on behalf of our wonderful coach who believed in this team and worked so hard to achieve the Championship she knew we could win. Our amazing Dita/NFHCA North Atlantic Region Coach of the Year was spoken about highly by numerous teammates and family members for her overall success as a coach and for everything shes done to build this team. She then presented assistant coach Val with a pair of steamy UGG boots for all of her time and dedication to this team and for her attributions to the success of this team as well. Without these two AMAZING women, our team wouldn't be at the level we are today, nevermind Champions. In addition to the coaches, the volunteer coaches were then acknowledged for their contributions to the team and for volunteering their time to come out every week and help us better our skills. THANK YOU.

An overall successful luncheon with lots of tears and fun-filled moments. Seniors, you will be missed <3