St. Joe’s falls to Northwestern in NCAA field hockey championship
A storybook season came to an end as the Hawks suffered a 5-0 loss to the Wildcats in Ann Arbor, Mich.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Their historic field hockey season didn’t end the way the St. Joseph’s Hawks had hoped.
The Hawks fell to Northwestern, 5-0, in the NCAA Division I championship on Sunday at Phyllis Ocker Field, giving the Wildcats their second national championship in program history. Their first was in 2021.
“I obviously have a lot of emotions right now,” St. Joe’s coach Hannah Prince said, “but I’m super proud of my team and the season that we had and the effort that we put into this game, and really all the games this season.”
Just six minutes into the first quarter, senior Maddie Zimmer, a member of the U.S. Olympic team, got the momentum rolling for the Wildcats (23-1) with the first of two goals.
“I think that’s been the case, for the last month, and a trend for the season that we like to start games strong,” Northwestern coach Tracey Fuchs said. “We’ve been starting strong, and I think that gives energy to everybody when you can get a touch on the ball and you can move it around and play some attacking hockey.”
Just five minutes later, Philadelphia native and Camden Catholic alumna Olivia Bent-Cole added to Northwestern’s lead, with an assist from Zimmer. The next three goals came from penalty corners, with two from sophomore Ilse Tromp and Zimmer’s second of the game.
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Zimmer, a native of Hershey, also added an assist. Fellow Olympic team member and Episcopal Academy graduate Ashley Sessa had two assists. Senior Lauren Hunter finished with three assists.
“She and Maddie are two of the best, and she’s so dependable, and she’s one of those players that always goes under the radar,” Fuchs said of Hunter. “She is one of the smartest players I’ve ever coached, and so proud to have had her here at Northwestern for four years.”
The Hawks finished with three shots, and only one shot on goal from fifth-year Celeste Smits, which tied the record for the fewest shots allowed in a championship game, set by North Carolina and Maryland in 1993. St. Joe’s finished with a 20-4 record.
All five of the Wildcats goals came in the first half as the Hawks played a tighter game in the second but were unable to produce offensively.
“We didn’t compete as much as I would have liked in the first half, but I think as the game went on, we worked into it and were able to see some success on the field,” Prince said. “And I think that’s something our team should walk off the field knowing that they really can battle with anyone. And obviously it’s especially tough on the players who it’s their last collegiate game, but they also, equally, should just be extremely proud, and they represented our university so well, and I can’t say enough good things about them.”
Despite the lack of a storybook ending, the team will go down in St. Joe’s athletics history as the only one across all sports to compete for a national title.
“That effort we gave in the second half and some of the changes that we made, and just the legacy that this team will forever have is something that I’m super proud of,” Prince said.