Dear Friends,

What an amazing season for the Centre field hockey program! I can't believe it's over and haven't really soaked in our accomplishments yet, but I do know it was a historic year. Mrs. Kitty Baird started the Centre field hockey program in the fall of 1960 as one of the first women's sports in Kentucky, and 48 years later our student-athletes broke new ground with our first NCAA Tournament appearance. We started the season with a school record 10 game winning streak, won 13 total games, and won our first regular season SCAC title.

Teresa Johnstone (Louisville, Ky.) earned our first SCAC Offensive Player of the Year Award. Senior goalkeeper Ann Guagliardo (Louisville, Ky.) won the Defensive Player of the Year Award (the third year in a row a Centre player has earned this honor) and became the first player in the SCAC-era to be named to four All-SCAC teams.

A record four players were named to the All-SCAC Team (Sally Faulkner, Taylor Gray, Guagliardo, and Johnstone) and junior Emily Boyle joined these four to earn NFHCA All-Region honors. Centre placed five on the All-Region team, another school record, and no other school placed as many. Centre also ended the season ranked #1 in the Great Lakes Region of NCAA D-III for the first time in school history.

Eleven Centre players scored points. Ten scored goals. We almost doubled our goal output from 2006, more than doubled our assists from 2006, and gave up more than one goal in only four games this season.

Our seniors were incredible all season with their contributions on the field and leadership in the locker room. From finishing with a 3-15 record their freshman year to earning an NCAA bid this season, they've been instrumental in turning this program around.

Our underclassmen were phenomenal as well. Everyone bought into our team principles (FAMILY, INTEGRITY, ACCOUNTABILITY) this year and were rewarded because we focused on the process. We controlled what we could control and left the rest alone. We played team hockey on both sides of the ball.

We have a strong returning group of players and I am confident that we will bring in a new group of talented student-athletes to keep pushing this program forward. We did wonderful things this season, but I know there's so much more we can accomplish at Centre. And after a short rest, we'll get started preparing for next year.

I'm so proud of this team, our coaching staff (Maegan Nash and Beth Faulkner) and our parents and fans. We achieved these milestones together and that makes it all the more fulfilling. Great job everyone! See you at the banquet in a few weeks. Until then, enjoy your time off and Happy Thanksgiving! God has blessed us with so many great things this season, and what an appropriate time to give thanks.