The St. Joe’s field hockey team defeated Virginia Commonwealth University 1-0 in the Atlantic-10 Field Hockey Championship game on Nov. 3.
Among the team’s achievements: three consecutive outright A-10 regular season championships, two consecutive A-10 tournament championships, currently ranked 10th overall in the country.
“Field hockey is the best team on campus,” Adam Sands ’22 said. “We are 10th in the nation and people don’t realize or appreciate that. A lot of games I went to nobody was there which I don’t get because we are so good.”
Sands is St. Joe’s field hockey self-proclaimed number one fan. He decorated the end lounge on his floor in Villiger Hall with messages in post-it notes that were visible from Ellen Ryan Field. During the tournament it read “We Love SJU FH” and after the championship, “A-10 Champs” was added as well. His attire for the championship game was a shirt signed by every member of the field hockey team.
This year’s championship being on St. Joe’s home turf allowed for Hawk fans including Sands to take in the sport of field hockey. The stands were packed on both Friday and Saturday as the Hawks battled their conference rivals.
Head Coach Lynn Farquhar is hopeful that the excitement surrounding the championship can get people interested in the sport.
“I hope this really helps our prominence,” Farquhar said. “It is a really fun sport. So if you don’t know about it and this is the first time you’ve seen it, it is engaging. We had the decorated windows and the fans going around the field and I am thankful for that. The energy really helped us.”
Sands agreed that having this most recent championship on Ellen Ryan Field has helped the program gain interest on campus. It capped off a dominant season that saw the Hawks go undefeated in the A-10.
“I do think people are starting to take notice,” Sands said. “The team is also getting younger and younger. Only three seniors are graduating this year. They are going to be good for a while.”
One of the leaders of St. Joe’s young core is freshman Tonya Botherway. She thinks that fans coming out to there games brings the best out of the team.
“It was so cool seeing so many people from St. Joe’s there,” Botherway said. “I think the crowd really makes a difference to our performance. I want to win to show our supporters how well we can play.”
The steady improvement of the program under Farquhar is the driving force behind St. Joe’s rise to national power.
“We are a program on the rise,” Farquhar said. “We have had a great group of committed workers who have come in and some alums who have helped us start it. We are hoping to continue this trend.”
Senior back Joely Helder has experienced this growth first hand over the course of her decorated career. Freshman year her season ended in the A-10 semifinals, and sophomore year she suffered her last loss at Ellen Ryan Field—the team hasn’t lost a game since Sept. 25, 2016. As a junior she helped lead St. Joe’s to the A-10 championship and an NCAA tournament berth, and this year she played a key role in repeating as champions and coming into the NCAA tournament ranked as one of the top ranked teams in the country.
“We have come a huge way since I was a freshman,” Helder said. “We were ranked in like the sixties. To be top 10 and to be able to continue on is just awesome. Hopefully, everyone sees what we have been doing.”
Junior goaltender and career wins leader Victoria Kammerinke is proud of how far the program has come.
“If you look at where this program came from, it’s amazing what coach Farquhar has accomplished,” Kammerinke said. “Two championships in a row just shows that everything is coming together. It is so much fun just going forward knowing our season is not done yet.”
Farquhar said St. Joe’s is in the heart of hockey and that she sees the university becoming a field hockey school.
“That would be awesome, I love it,” Farquhar said. “We are in the heart of hockey. There is no reason why we couldn’t be a field hockey school.”
The field hockey team’s season continues on Nov. 9 against the University of Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
