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

Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah!!!

Hello everyone! I noticed we've been a little lacking on the new posts, this is mostly due to a number of things 1) end of the season sadness 2) end of season reflection happiness 3) coaches with lots of work/on vacation 4) players experiencing the wonderfulness that is finals time. So to keep everyone up to date lets start with the end of the season recap. Where we last left off the team was about to head to Maine to play Bowdoin. I can't even explain how amazing the experience was, from the bus ride up to the delicious team dinner, it was unforgettable. The game itself was so much fun, which is not something you would hear from a team that was kicked out of the tournament. With our team the game really was the peak of our season and just showed that hard work and no fear can get you very far in life.

The only sad part came when the realization set in that I would never again get a chance to play with our seniors again. Never again will I sit on Steph Smith's pads and let her hit me in the back; Never again will I be able to yell "Nice, I like it" across the field to Kerri and watch her pose; Never again will I be able to roll on the ground and shoot imaginary guns making laser sounds with Hillary; Never again will I have the opportunity to watch Casey take a shot, and me more excited then ever; Never again will I be able to see the Midget kick her little midget feet with joy. Every team goes through the same thing when they lose such an amazing group of seniors, and for our team it is no different. We will move and make more history while continuing to be just as weird, in their memory (and only slightly because that's just how we are).

Congratuations goes out to Hillary "Child Bauer" Paul and Allison "Midget" Shields for being only our second and third All-Americans in five years of the program as well as Coach Reed for being named the Regional Coach of the Year!! That's all for now, expect some updates as we get closer to spring season, or if anything else cool happens that we feel like talking about! Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah to everyone!

SWEET 16! How sweet it is!

Wednesday marked the first NCAA appearance in Stevens Field Hockey history! For many of us, it still has not set in and yet WE ARE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT.

Not including morning classes and labs, the day began at 1:15 pm in the locker room. With music playing and the occasional outbursts of singing, the team prepared for warm-ups. The coaches finally came in for the pregame talk - which gets more and more interesting as the season continues. Everyone broke out in laughter when we noticed Jess Reed passing out lobster bibs. Yes - white, plastic lobster bibs. This game was more than just being in the tournament, we were playing to continue to play. We were playing to earn our spot in the Sweet 16. We were playing to earn our lobster dinner in Maine!

3:00 pm was game time. At the end of the first half, we were up 1-0 but we knew the last 35 minutes would be a fight. Someone's season would end after the game and no one was ready to give up. With 14 minutes left in the game, Wooster scored to tie the game 1-1. We continued to dominate the play and had numerous scoring opportunities but nothing was going in the goal. Hillary Paul scored the game winning goal off of a penalty stroke with roughly 10 minutes left. The rest of the game was a blur, as both teams were fighting to gain clean possession of the ball. The final score was 2-1 in favor of the ducks!

Once we were back in the locker room, a tearful Kerri Polidore reminded the team that the seniors had just played their last home game – and it sure felt good for it to end in a win! The season is far from over, as we have a huge game against Bowdoin on Saturday. We are the underdog, but that will just make victory even sweeter!

MEET THE 2008 EMPIRE 8 CHAMPIONS! Thank you to all of our friends and family for your support. We will see you on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at Stevens for our 3:00pm match-up against Wooster!

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

“That just happened!” –another popular phrase of Stevens Field Hockey
Even before I came on my recruiting trip in November 2004 Coach Reed believed that she could build a championship team. Yesterday it happened as Stevens field hockey defeated W&J 3-1 to win the Empire 8 conference championship. The best explanation for this entire weekend is the following quote by Douchan Gersi that Women’s Basketball left in our locker room: “Victory always starts in the head. It's a state of mind. It then spreads with such radiance and such affirmations that destiny can do nothing but obey.” We believed in each other, we believed that we could win, and we WANTED A CHAMPIONSHIP T-SHIRT.
Looking back on yesterday, the day is a big blur. It started with our assistant coach drinking multiple cups of coffee, the team warming up in shirts we made the night before, and our famous singing of the National Anthem. All of which was followed by some of the most confident 70 minutes of field hockey that this team has played. Before the much awaited t-shirt presentation, Alli Shields was named tournament MVP, a well deserved honor for our “midget.” After the team pictures, the celebration continued with our family and fans at our second tailgate of the weekend!
Other than the t-shirt, the best thing about winning the conference is that we receive an automatic bid to the NCAA’s. At approximately 11pm Sunday, the bracket was posted on the NCAA website. I had just opened my computer when I noticed, so I clicked on the bracket and left the room before I even looked. I knew Kara had been refreshing her Internet Explorer all night, so I ran straight to her room (screaming). Once Kara opened the bracket we found out that we will be playing Wooster on Wednesday. This added to the excitement as Sloth (’08 alumnae) is the assistant coach at Wooster. We then noticed the asterisk next to our name, indicating that we are HOSTING the game! Home field advantage is huge in field hockey and I am excited for whatever Wednesday brings.
So look for Stevens Field Hockey on campus today – we are wearing the sweet Empire 8 CHAMPIONSHIP t-shirts!!
-Casey Scherck

Junior Attacker Kara "SKA-DOOSH" Borzillo