Senior field hockey forward Anna Willocks became the Hawks all-time leading goal-scorer on Oct. 7, netting her 68th career goal, shattering Linda Buonanno’s previous record, set between 1983 and 1986.
Willocks’ historic performance on Ellen Ryan Field came while the team was en route to a 6-0 victory over Big 5 rival Temple University. She now leads the St. Joe’s field hockey program in every major offensive category: goals (68), assists (31) and points (167).
“This is a really big deal for me,” Willocks said. “For me to be able to break a record shows that hard work is paying off.”
Willocks said a lot of hard work from the entire team gave way to her record breaking performance.
“We have such a long history with [Temple],” Willocks said. “It was cool to be able to get a team win against a really good team.”
According to Head Coach Lynn Farquhar, Willocks has exemplified a team-first mentality throughout her career at St. Joe’s.
“Anna has earned everything, which to me is incredibly impressive,” Farquhar said in a press release. “She has done it through her work rate and she has really supported the bigger picture of the team; that was even more important to her than her own goals and it’s really cool that they’ve both worked out.”
With this win, the Hawks moved up to the number 13 ranking in the latest Division I Coaches Poll, their highest national ranking in program history.
According to Willocks, becoming the leading goal-scorer acts as a motivating factor for her future team goals.
“Looking at the bigger picture, getting those team goals is a priority, but mostly focusing on each game at a time,” Willocks said. “We have a huge weekend coming up.”
The team will play conference games against Virginia Commonwealth University on Oct. 12, University of Richmond on Oct. 14 and Davidson University on Oct. 16.
Willocks said Farquhar is her largest influence on and off the field and attributes some of her record-breaking performance to Farquhar’s leadership.
“She’s made a huge impact on my life,” Willocks said. “Not only in hockey but also character-wise and who I am as a person.”
