Field hockey remains undefeated in A-10 play after weekend road sweep
The Saint Joseph’s University field hockey team (11-5, 6-0) had a successful weekend, winning two games against Atlantic 10 opponents, each by a score of 2-1. The victories are their fourth and fifth wins in the team’s last six games and keep the Hawks undefeated in the A-10 standings.
Sophomore Anna Willocks, who has been nothing short of dominant, scored both goals for St. Joe’s in Friday’s match against Saint Francis University. It was her eighth multi-goal game this season. The win marked the Hawks’ tenth of the season, a feat they haven’t accomplished since 2008.
Saint Francis plays on a FieldTurf, so there are, as St. Joe’s Head Coach Lynn Farquhar says, “those little black tar bubbles.” The turf inspired Farquhar to make some adjustments.
“That completely changes a game, so we did a couple adjustments and we relied on some of our freshmen because they just came off of that,” Farquhar said.
Some of the adjustments included moving players to different positions.
“We had some adjustments positionally,” Farquhar said. “[That] is an exciting thing to see as a coach–to see when your players can not only play on the right side and the left side, but also [sophomore] Joely Helder was bumped up to midfielder. [Senior] Emily Nonnemacher went back to the backfield and they both did outstanding. It shows that we work for each other and we’re starting to understand the game a little better.”
The changes proved to be something that could reappear in future games.
“Moving forward, for me, it shows that we are diversifying and I proudly will look to play those players in different positions a little bit more now that I know we can do it and we’re really strong at it,” Farquhar said.
Sunday’s game was a repeat of Friday’s, with Willocks leading the Hawks past Lock Haven University, again scoring both goals. She became the second player in program history to reach 20 goals in a season. The first was Linda Buonanno, who, in 1986, scored 31 goals. The Hawks’ sixth conference win of the season sets a new school record.
“I think it was a well-played weekend for us,” Farquhar said. “We were challenged with two conference opponents on the road, and both their fields played a little bit differently, so we had to adjust our game quite a bit…I thought we did outstanding with taking care of the little moments and the little details, controlling what we can control and just finding a way to make it happen. I think every weekend our movement gets a little better. That’s not only how we move the ball, but our off-ball movement. This weekend, what was really neat to see is that we had a lot of different people get in the game.”
In sole possession of first place in the A-10, St. Joe’s is still taking a game-by- game approach.
“This was a goal of ours and we knew we had to work to get there and we’re still on the path, but I think it is exciting to stop and look at where we’ve come from,” Farquahar said. “But at the end of the day we need to keep on doing what we’re doing and that’s hard work, that’s playing team hockey, and that really is taking one day at a time.”
The Hawks will host the University of Massachusetts on Friday, Oct. 21 at 3 p.m. and Hofstra University on Sunday, Oct. 23 at noon for their final home game of the season. The A-10 playoffs will begin on Friday, Nov. 4 at Virginia Commonwealth University.
