RELEASED: September 24, 2009

By Leigh Ivey

DANVILLE, KY—A summer of hard work and dedication has paid off for the Centre College women's field hockey team. The women are currently 5-1 overall and 3-1 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play.

The impressive start comes during the 50th anniversary year of field hockey at Centre, a fact that is not lost on the players. "Just to be a part of that feels amazing," says Sarah Humphries '11, a back for Centre's team.

After their early-season victories over Bellarmine University and Lindenwood University, the Colonels won consecutive shutout games against DePauw University and Sewanee.

Helping lead their team to these victories were Humphries and Leah Oberst '12. Each woman has been named an SCAC player of the week, Humphries for her offensive play and Oberst for her defense. 

After a recent 1-0 loss to Rhodes College on Sept. 26, the women defeated Hendrix College on Sunday, Sept. 27.

The team's noteworthy start to the season is remarkable due to a significant challenge the team has faced: five talented members graduated last spring, leaving the team devoid of many of leaders.

Replacing these members, however, are nine new players eager to compete.

The idea of competition is a theme for the field hockey players this season. Although the team has long held three core values—family, integrity and accountability—coach Tom Hobbs added competition as a fourth value for this season.

"We've spoken a lot about 'competing' this year," Hobbs says, "because it's only by competing, even among ourselves, that we can improve. We must compete to get the most from ourselves, to be the best team we can be."

And because so many talented new players have recently joined the team, Humphries says, the idea of competition "is crucial. Every day in practice we have to compete, whether in drills or scrimmages or in our conditioning. We're forced to play the best we can. Our team has a lot of talent, so we all have to compete for time to play."

Despite the competitive nature of the season, the members of the team "are a family," Humphries says. "The camaraderie of our team is no doubt one of the best things about playing. And we all like to have fun. If you walk past our field at practice, you can almost always hear music on, keeping us pumped up and ready to go."

Though the team has gotten off to a strong start, Hobbs knows that they must continue to devote much time and effort to their play.

"I'm very proud of the ladies," he says. "They worked hard in the spring and summer, which allowed us to immediately focus on hockey and conditioning. But Centre students have a lot of responsibilities that demand time and energy. Getting and keeping everyone focused when it's time to practice and play is always a challenge, and maturing to that ability is a process."

This process is already underway, and Hobbs is pleased with the team's dedication. "Everyone is contributing in meaningful ways," he says. "That's important to me, to make sure that everyone is a part of our success."

The team will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 3, when they travel to Lexington to play Transylvania University.

"Each and every one of us came in ready to be the best this year," Humphries says. "We made it to the NCAA tournament my freshmen year and came shy of winning the SCAC trophy this past season. With all of the hard would we have put in, I truly think that this is our year."

Have comments, suggestions, or story ideas? E-mail leigh.ivey@centre.edu with your feedback.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.