Field hockey ready to jump-start season with new leader

HAVERFORD, Pa. – In 2010 the Haverford College field hockey program has its sights set on at least matching, if not exceeding, last year's postseason results which saw the squad earn a bid to the Centennial Conference tournament.

The Fords qualified for their first conference tournament in 2009 then scratched out a 1-0 win in the quarterfinal round to earn the program's first semifinal berth. With virtually the same roster back on the turf again this fall the expectations have clearly been set for another trip into the league playoffs.

The coaches in the league seem to believe the Fords are primed for another run into the end-of-season tournament as the preseason coaches' poll finds Haverford receiving 66 points and a fourth-place ranking in the voting. Defending champion Ursinus is the favorite with a perfect 100 points and 10 first-place votes (voters are not permitted to vote for their own team) followed by Johns Hopkins (87 points), Gettysburg (83) and the Fords.

One of the newcomers to the squad this fall won't be rushing up and down the turf between the sidelines during games, however, but instead will be patrolling the Haverford sideline directing the Fords. Head coach Jackie Cox took the reins of the squad in June and is excited about the opportunity with which she's been presented.

"The Haverford field hockey program is coming off of a strong season," said Cox, who added, "It's clear to me from my early assessments that the rising sophomore, junior and senior classes have become more confident in their individual skills and, more importantly, how they play as a cohesive team."

The roster that has the new coach excited is long on talent spearheaded by the top six scorers — with only one senior among the group — from 2009 returning this season, along with three game-experienced goalies and all but one of last season's defenders.

All-South Region First-Team defender Roxanne Jaffe, a junior captain for the Haverford squad, will certainly soften the departure by graduation of Ariel Herm who tied for the conference lead in defensive saves last season with six on the year. Jaffe also earned First-Team All-Centennial Conference honors in 2009 while sophomore Mary Hobbs (second-team) and senior Alex Waleko (honorable mention) also picked up all-league honors.

Hobbs led the offensive attack in 2009 accumulating 28 points (10 goals, 8 assists) which ranked sixth-most in the league as did her 1.47 points per game average. She and Waleko tied for the team lead in assists and another sophomore, Bridget Gibbons, trailed only Hobbs in the goal-scoring department tallying nine during her freshman campaign.

Working with Jaffe in lending a strong, physical presence in the defensive end will likely be returners Margaret Selsor, a junior who was sixth on the team in scoring last year, and Christie Quake, who took over one of the starting defensive spots in the third game of her first season with the program.

Between the pipes Cox has Maggie Cronin who started all 19 games last season as well as Sydney Hyder and Courtney Knill who both earned valuable minutes in goal spelling Cronin at times during the season.

So the elevated expectations — a word gladly overused within the program nowadays —heading into the 2010 season are due, in part, to the amount of experience Cox will be able to throw out onto the turf.

Nearly a dozen returners in 2010 come from the junior and sophomore classes. Over the past two seasons these now-second and third-year players came to Haverford and were given the opportunity to step right onto the turf at Swan Field and make a difference in the team's fortunes. This experience gives the 2010 Fords a deceivingly youthful look.

"When you add in the accumulated minutes of playing time from our seniors to that of our junior and sophomore players,  it adds up to a line-up that seems to already have achieved one of my goals — knowing where each other are on the field and playing as a cohesive unit," says Cox.

Cox's incoming class of four freshmen is smaller than the previous recruiting classes, and breaking into the starting line-up will be a much tougher task for the quartet, but they are a standout group that will certainly help the team in their first year with the program.

As the first-year coach of a program with high expectations, Cox looks to both the past and future.

"I want to acknowledge the fantastic job that (previous coach) Colleen Fink did before me in building a talented team that achieved its first postseason appearance in program history," said Cox. "It is my goal as their new coach to continue that development and to close the gaps between us and the programs immediately above us within the conference, and against the several NCAA tournament-tested squads within the non-conference portion of our schedule.