Springfield Republican Feature
Mount Holyoke to host Division III field hockey national championship
by: Dick Baker
SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (Nov. 4, 2009) – The Division III conference field hockey playoffs are under way – all leading up to the national championship to be held at Mount Holyoke College Nov. 21-22.
The tournament will consist of two semifinal matches and the national final on the three-year-old Mount Holyoke Turf Field. For the moment, Messiah College (Pa.) is the nation’s top-ranked team followed by Salisbury University (Md.) and Ursinus College (Pa.)
Teams are scheduled to arrive at Mount Holyoke Nov. 19. They will participate in community service activities and attend a banquet Nov. 20. Semifinal contests are slated for 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Nov. 21 with the championship game Nov. 22 at 1 p.m. The tournament is almost completely run by students with very few administrators. There are 12 sub-committees with more than 100 students from various schools involved in the event’s organization.
Meanwhile, Mount Holyoke and Springfield College have both advanced to the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference semifinals to be hosted by Wellesley College Saturday. The Pride opens against Wellesley at 11 a.m. while the Lyons follow up with a match against MIT.
SC (11-8) has won four straight, and five of its last six. The Pride handed Wellesley its first conference loss of the season, 4-2, on Oct. 17.
“That was one of the best 70 minutes we’ve played all season,” Springfield coach Melissa Rogers said. “It gives us a boost of confidence going into Saturday.”
Morgan Rein, who scored twice in that contest, has given the offense a lift. She scored three goals and added an assist last week to lead the Pride to a 3-0 week in gathering NEWMAC player of the week honors.
Rein was originally a center-midfielder, but with SC hit by graduations to its scoring power she moved up front this year and has been particularly effective during the second half.
”She’s really dug down, and become a go-to scorer,” Rogers said.
Although they don’t see a lot of playing time, two young players from Western Massachusetts are likely to contribute to the Pride’s future. Freshman Lexa Mish of Southwick is a defensive specialist who has shown a great deal of improvement during the season. And Meghan McHugh of Greenfield is a freshman who was called up from the junior varsity at midseason. She is more of the scoring type.
Mount Holyoke dominated Clark 3-0 to advance to the semifinals. Jess Fajardo of Amherst, assisted by Tricia Chase of Feeding Hills, scored one of the goals while Shara Roberston had the other.
Mount Holyoke coach Andy Whitcomb is delighted with Chase’s progress.
“She was pretty raw when she first started here coming out of Cathedral,” Whitcomb said. “She started as a defender, and has moved up to the middle, which tells you something. Her greatest asset is her defensive saves. She can take a ball coming 90 miles per hour, and get her stick on it.”
MIT beat Mount Holyoke 7-1 during the regular season at Cambridge, but that was on astro turf, something the Lyons didn’t handle very well.
“It got 3-0, and I just kept substituting,” Whitcomb said.
But Saturday could be revenge time, and a chance to play in the conference championship Sunday, also at Wellesley.