Field hockey team plays in NCAA Tournament

RELEASED: November 8, 2007

DANVILLE, KY—Following one of its best regular seasons in school history, the Centre College field hockey team was selected to compete in the 24-team NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. The Colonels (13-4) traveled to Lynchburg, Va., to play Lynchburg College (18-4), Wednesday, Nov. 7. While the Lynchburg posted a 5-0 victory, the Colonels were still able to celebrate their most successful season to date.

The Colonels earned an at-large bid after finishing third in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tournament and had an exceptionally tough challenge in the first round as they faced Lynchburg, who won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament Championship to secure an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

"Lynchburg is a great program with a rich history of success," Centre head coach Tom Hobbs said. "The match was a tough test, but we went in confident that we could compete."

This was Centre's first trip to the NCAA Field Hockey Tournament, and the team was excited by the challenge. To say the 2007 season has been a successful season would be an understatement. Not only was this season's win total one of the highest in school history, it was the most wins by a SCAC team since field hockey was recognized by the conference as an official sport in 2004.

Centre also earned a share of the SCAC regular season title, tying Rhodes College with a 6-2 league record, which also marks the most conference wins in a season in the SCAC field hockey era.

Along with the team accolades, several individuals had impressive seasons. Four different players were named SCAC Player of the Week at least once, with one player named twice and another three times.

Junior Teresa Johnstone (Louisville, Ky.) was named an SCAC Co-Offensive Player of the Year after recording 10 goals and six assists. Senior goalkeeper Ann Guagliardo (Louisville, Ky.) was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year after tallying five shutout wins and allowing only 14 goals in 13 matches.

Senior Taylor Gray (Louisville, Ky.) and sophomore Sally Faulkner (Louisville, Ky.) joined Johnstone and Guagliardo on the all-SCAC first team, while Hobbs was named the SCAC Head Coach of the Year.

"This is a very special team and I'm so proud of their efforts and focus this season," Hobbs added. "We earned our spot in the NCAA tournament and very much enjoyed representing Centre College and the SCAC this week."