The St. Thomas Aquinas College Women's Field Hockey team returns to the field for the 2021 season with a mostly young squad, but one that is determined to make a name for itself, following the program's magical playoff run in 2019. The Spartans were selected to finish 10th in the annual NE10 preseason coaches poll released last week.
A 2-1 double overtime victory over Adelphi University in the Quarterfinal Round of the Northeast-10 Field Hockey Tournament back in November 2019 capped an outstanding campaign, which saw the Spartans win 10 games, seven within conference play, and qualify for the postseason in the team's inaugural season within the league.
A summer of roster retooling and hopes of a repeat performance were delayed with the cancelation of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, following almost 22 months since the Spartans last season match, and a few practices and exhibition contests later, there is reason to celebrate. Field Hockey returns and Head Coach Genesis Pacheco has her team ready to take on the NE10's best for that return trip to the postseason.
As for the make up of this year's Spartan Squad; Coach Pacheco sees only four players return from the 2019 squad for the new campaign, as Arielle Rodriguez (Gr./Valley Cottage, NY), Brittany Lionarons (Jr./Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands), Lauren Cooper (Sr./Wakefield, England) and Jessie Hohenstein (Sr./Stroudsburg, PA) will make up the veteran core coming back to Sparkill.
16 new faces including; Adriana Alfisi (So./Norwalk, CT), Hailey Galison (So./Seaford, NY), Vivian Tidd (Fr./Albany, NY), Kendra Evans (Fr./Canastota, NY), Erin Bacalles (Fr./New City, NY), Nicola Van Vuuren (Fr./Pretoria Gauteng, South Africa), Sam Van Der Valk (Fr./Breda Noord-Brabant, Netherlands), Sofia Corominas Cuen (Fr./Valldoreix Barcelona, Spain), Olivia Cerbo (So./Middletown, NJ), Isabella O'Hara (So./New City, NY), Noortje Luijten (Fr./Veldhoven Noord-Brabant, Netherlands), Olivia Calcaterra (Fr./Scotch Plains, NJ), Madelyn Verstraten (Fr./Rochester, NY), Eve Kowalczyk (Fr./Webster, NY), Madeline Schaefer (Fr./Hightstown, NJ) and Carlee Sherman (RSo./Pine Bush, NY) will look to provide the size, speed and skill needed to take the next step in the Spartans postseason championship chase.
Head Coach Genesis Pacheco returns to the sideline for her fourth season leading STAC, with Assistant Coaches Elizabeth Cazzari and Brianna Jones also returning to round out the staff.
The Spartans will open their 2021 season on the road at Pace University on Thursday, September 2, with the opening faceoff scheduled for 4pm in Pleasantville, NY.