Scot field hockey team rewarded with NCAA berth
The College of Wooster's field hockey team is now two-for-two.Now, though, they want No. 2.
The Scots wrapped up their second consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference championship recently, winning both the regular season and tournament championships.
That secured their second NCAA postseason berth in as many years, and put Wooster in position to win only its second tournament contest. That opportunity came last Wednesday when Hamilton (N.Y.) College brought its 12-4 record to face the 16-5 Scots.
That marked the eighth NCAA postseason berth for the Scots, who own a 1-7 record in those games. Wooster's only win came in 1985, and its appearance last year ended in heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Stevens Institute (N.J.) of Technology. A year later and riding its high-powered offense, Wooster was looking to bag that elusive second win and earn a spot opposite No. 2-ranked Salisburg University (16-1) on Nov. 14.
The Scots have been consistently ranked among the nation's top Division III teams in offensive firepower this season, but they can do the dirty work as well. The NCAC championship game was a defensive struggle and when it was done, it was a goal by senior Brittany Montgomery only minutes before the break that lifted Wooster to a 1-0 triumph over Ohio Wesleyan and into the NCAA's postseason tournament and a home game.
That was an added treat for coach Brenda Meese and her team, which had to travel eight hours to New Jersey to face Stevens in '08. This year, the travel was thrust on Hamilton, which was making its first NCAA appearance. That, combined with the experience the Scots garnered last year, is something Meese hopes will favor her club.
"That's big," said Meese of the opportunity to play at home. "For us, we were looking at a minimum 7-8 hour trip, so it's nice for a change to have them coming this direction."
The experience of that game, even though it resulted in a loss, is a piece that Meese hopes will pay dividends, just as it has this season.
"This is a veteran team," said Meese, who has a 232-128-4 record in her 19th season at Wooster, "but we had some holes to fill. We had some talented first-years and three-to-five of them have started at some point. However, we had one of the best attacks in the region and one of the best players offensively in Amanda Artman."
Artman, a senior, became Wooster's all-time leading scorer in the regular-season finale, breaking a record by Cindy Runnette (184, 1979-82). She has 28 goals and nine assists for 65 points this season, but she is hardly the lone offensive threat.
"Eileen Barrer (13 goals, 6 assists) is on one side and Brittany Montgomery (10 goals, 5 assists) is on the other, and they are three-time all-conference players," said Meese, who had to replace three of last season's top five scorers.
However, Meese replaced that trio with seven players who scored a dozen or more points this year– Maddie Hart (8 goals, 2 assists), Laura German (7/1), Kate Valora (5/2) and Stephanie Standera (3/6).
Another concern was defensively as freshmen and sophomores ended up filling those positions.
"I hate to use the word weakness, but that was a concern," said Meese. "We only had one shutout this year, but by the same token, we had some blowouts. We have 23 players, and we put in all 23. That puts more pressure on a keeper, especially when the starting unit comes out and the one that comes in isn't as stable as the first. That makes you more susceptible to a score.
"We had some young talent … and we were shaky in the beginning, but as the season has gone on we've become more confident."
That was clearly evident in the Scots' finale when they pinned a 1-0 setback on OWU. The Scots had defeated the Bishops 4-3 and 4-2 in a pair of regular-season contests, but tightened the noose on the Bishops in the title game with a solid performance from sophomore keeper Madalyn Myers.
"She's an athletic goalie, which helps a lot," said Meese. "We had a good scoring unit, but we've become more balanced offensively and defensively as the year went on.
"This is a team with a lot of heart. We've come back from 2-3 goals down and won. They don't give up. They still know they can win when they are 2-3 goals down.
"This is the only the second time we've taken the conference and conference tournament and we've done it two years in a row. The kids have a lot of confidence. Our seniors have won a conference title four years now, and you don't get to do that often. Some never play on a championship team."
That's not the case in Wooster. Instead of a championship, though, all Wooster wanted was win No. 2.