After months away from the field, the field hockey team is ready to get back to work.
“All the upperclassmen are just happy to see each other again after a long summer,” said senior goaltender Merlijn van der Vegt.
A Hot Non-Conference Start
The team aims to hit the ground running just like last season, when a 5-4-1 start placed Hofstra at the top of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) throughout September. The Pride outscored their opponents by a combined 20-15 mark during their first 10 games with seven of those matches at home. The pre-conference record was an all-time high under fourth year head coach Courtney Veinotte, who had her best start with team.
“Last season we really closed the gap from 2019 and 2021 spring season,” Veinotte said. “We really closed the gap with scoring margins: what we were giving up on the defensive side of the ball, what we were getting on the attack side of the ball.”
Hofstra won three of the final four games prior to October, scoring goals in all four games.
Conference Schedule
A Virginia road trip on Oct. 1, 2021, kick-started Hofstra’s conference schedule and all CAA rival clashes. The William and Mary Tribe and visiting Pride each scored twice, prompting an eventual shootout where the Pride fell just short. The losses piled on during the next three games against the James Madison Dukes, Delaware Blue Hens and Drexel Dragons and gave the team little hope for a playoff berth. A 2-0 victory against the Towson Tigers snapped Hofstra’s four game skid while earning the Blue and Yellow their first conference victory of the season.
Still, Veinotte made the conscious choice to keep her chin up and realize how competitive the team was during struggling times.
“You are seeing those close scores,” Veinotte said, referencing back to back 3-2 losses. “Although some of those games didn’t necessarily change the result win-loss wise, I do feel like our team took a big stride last year.”
Players Making Big Strides for Upcoming Season
The team’s previous success wouldn’t have been possible without the accompanied individual growth of multiple players.
One of these team members is fifth year Cami Larsson; the Argentina native has given everything she has for the Pride field hockey community over her four years. She scored a goal during the 2018 season opening 3-2 Hofstra victory over Virginia Commonwealth University. By the season’s end, she finished atop the team in goals and points with seven and 19 respectively, as a first year.
The next season brought next level confidence as her 25 points granted Larsson the team stats leader for the second straight season. An unorthodox condensed 2021 spring season may not have shaped up to the team’s expectations, but last year’s fall season was a test for the then-senior who drastically changed positions on the field.
“That’s more of a role I used to play in the past,” Larsson said. “I came to Hofstra, and I transitioned into more of an attack role. So then last season I went back a little in midfield; I felt really comfortable, because I feel comfortable looking at the field above me and connecting with my forwards.”
Although Larsson saw a drop in goals and point scoring, tallying four goals and two points, it’s what one would expect from a player who is taking a step back from a strictly attacking role.
Departures
As the cycle of college athlete careers go, the Pride said farewell to multiple graduating players. This included fifth years goalie Cecelia DeSimone and defender Frankie O’brien, senior forwards Mercy Jasterzenski, Ming Doherty and Haley Carter, as well as defender Djuna Slort. Last season’s first years Eline Oldeman and Lara Borensztein will not be returning to the roster this season either.
Recruits
All those departures mean there are a lot of spots to fill.
“That’s almost like half of a team,” Larsson said. “That can be an entire new team on the field.”
The recruiting class consists of six American-born players, two from Germany, one from Argentina, one from Poland and one from the Netherlands.
A lack of Division 1 college experience hasn’t impeded this recruiting class’ ability to grind just as hard as those who have been here already.
“None of them look or feel like freshman,” Larsson further noted.
Being the only fifth year, Larsson is the only active player on the roster who has been a member of the Pride longer than Veinotte has been head coach. Veinotte recognizes the influence that Hofstra upperclassmen like Larsson provide.
“This class is a very mature class,” Veinotte said. “They are already bought into the bigger picture that our veterans have been so diligently working for this off season.”
Goaltending
Goalkeeping hasn’t been much of a question ever since Merlijn van der Vegt entered the picture prior to the fall 2019 season. The Utrecht, Netherlands native is 4 games away from 50 played in their career.
They have seven shutouts in their career, three of them from last season. Van der Vegt is no stranger to grabbing the CAA spotlight as they won CAA player of the week last season after allowing one goal in three games, making 15 stops and posting two consecutive shutouts. Van der Vegt also won 2 CAA Rookie of the Week awards during the 2019 campaign, first at the beginning of the season and then at the very end. They improved to a .689 save percentage enduring their heaviest workload between the pipes in their career after just a .615 save percentage during spring 2021. It’s the first season in Van der Vegt’s career where they are the longest tenured goalie on the team and will have only younger class teammates to mentor.
One of Van der Vegt’s mentees will be fellow Netherlands-native Pieke Roos.
“You get to know each other pretty well and pretty quickly when you’re from the same country because it’s an instant bond,” Van der Vegt said. “I remember my freshman year on the field was one of the biggest transitions that I ever felt because it’s so different, especially the goalie style is very different in America than it is back home, so I remember asking Cece everything,” Van der Vegt stated.
New Coaching
A couple of coaching changes have unfolded this offseason, most notably the additions of Connecticut native Caitlin Bennet and now Hofstra alumna Ming Doherty. Bennet hails from Fairfield, Connecticut where she obtained her bachelor’s degree at Fairfield University and played as the Stags field hockey goalie form 2013-2016. She finished ranking in the top 5 in Stags history in wins, games played, winning percentage and saves during her four-season run. After spending time as a volunteer assistant coach for University of Pennsylvania and an assistant coach at Wagner College, Bennet will now help oversee the Hofstra Pride.
“The experience level she is bringing in with the goalkeeping side, the defensive side of the game, it’s going to bring an element to us that it’s going to change the practice dynamic as a whole, it’s going to change that goalkeepers experience as a whole,” Veinotte said.
Ming Doherty is a name familiar with the Hofstra Pride field hockey program. After having graduated after the Spring 2022 semester after playing in her final season with Hofstra just last season. As a field hockey team representative on the Hofstra 2020-21 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, as well as a Hofstra representative in the division 1 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, she has cemented herself as a vital figure of the team in understanding the culture and demands of the team.
Bottom Line
It won’t be an easy season for the Pride as it plays in a fiercely competitive conference who may have said farewell to James Madison but has welcomed another dangerous team in Monmouth College. The magic date for when Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium opens the gates to the Monmouth University Hawks is Oct. 14. CAA preseason polls projected Hofstra to finish sixth out of seventh in the standings. With 11 outlying players dominating their home and foreign field hockey playing grounds, fans will see a young team giving all they have for not only the number on the back, but also the logo on the front.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
