At the beginning of the season, St. Joe’s field hockey team returned to the newly-renovated Ellen Ryan Field, complete with a new playing turf. It took less than four months for the Hawks to make history on their new field. 

St. Joe’s secured its spot in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament with a 1-0 win over Princeton on Ellen Ryan Field Nov. 17, marking the first time in program history the Hawks will be playing in the NCAA semi-final. The Hawks also set a new program record with their 19th win of the season.

“Everybody always says we’re so small. I said in my pregame speech, nobody believed in us, nobody,” said fifth-year back Kate Crist. “Everybody counted us out. We went in here as the four seed, and we were still, somehow, the underdogs. We will take that, and we’ll wear that proudly.” 

Another advantage the Hawks had was hosting, something head coach Hannah Prince said spoke to “the hard work the girls have put in building up to this moment.”

“I think that we’ll fight to the end, and doing it on your home turf is a huge advantage,” Crist said. “I mean, the crowd, you know how the surface plays, it was awesome.” 

At both their game against Lafayette in the first round and against Princeton in the quarter-finals, a sea of St. Joe’s fans, humans and canines alike, lined the sidelines and the bleachers. Even Mother Nature seemed to be rooting for the Hawks with two high 50-degree days. However, one of the largest sources of support was from the student-athlete community, something fifth-year back Julia Duffhuis said she believed helped the team.

“It’s amazing. I’ve been hearing around that coaches are not canceling practice but letting players go early, or even professors as well, because it’s a very big thing on campus,” Duffhuis said. “I think everybody is very excited for us, and they want to share that joy. They want us to succeed.” 

After scoring the only goal of the game against Lafayette Nov. 15, junior forward Alison Buffington said not just making it to this point but doing so at Ellen Ryan Field has been “such a unique experience.”