By wpengine
Cornell’s field hockey team has maintained many elements from last year heading into the 2003 season. Eight starters return from the 2002 campaign, which registered a school record nine wins (9-8, 3-4 Ivy). All three leading scorers are back, as is a goalie who held the fifth-highest save percentage in the country. Yet, there is one big difference this season — the person directing the team. Phillip Sykes came to Ithaca this summer to act as an interim coach while head coach Michelle Tambroni is on maternity leave. With this change at the helm, the question this season becomes whether Sykes’s system of play can bring the Red to challenge the likes of Princeton and Harvard for an Ivy title. “Our goal for this year is to improve every game and have the girls trust our coaching staff and our new style of play,” said Sykes of the transition. “The coaching part has been great, though everything else will take awhile.” Sykes will have a talented group to work with. Attack Up front, Cornell returns two of its top scorers from a year ago, making the Red’s offense as dangerous as ever. Seniors Carissa Mirasol and Lindsay Grace will look to increase upon the team-leading 17 points that each registered a year ago. Mirasol, who is only the second player in Cornell history to be named an All-American, enters the season seventh all-time in career points with 47. Grace, who was a second team All-Ivy selection a year ago, has improved her game every year she has been at Cornell. She ranks eighth all-time in career points with 40. Serving as one of the tri-captains of the team, she will be a leader up front. Joining Mirasol and Grace on attack is junior Sara Weiner, who is poised to have a breakout season after registering her first two collegiate goals last year. Classmate Gina Testa’s play has been impressive as of late, especially in the Red’s summer tour of the United Kingdom. Junior Julie Huang, who started in 10 contests last season, will also look to make significant contributions up front, while classmate Jamie Woolsley will return from an injury, which plagued her 2002 season. Freshman Sarah Bernstein also looks to gain experience this season. Midfield In the midfield, senior tri-captain Karleigh Burns will lead a talented group that should provide the Red with an effective transition game. Joining Burns will be juniors Stephanie Maher and Danielle Dunn. Sophomore Blair Corcoran will look to get more playing time this year, while freshmen Lisa Kenney, Sarah Miller, and Lindsay Moyer will also look to make contributions to the program. Defense The backfield is led by second-team All-Ivy member and senior tri-captain Kimmy Gardner, who was tied with Mirasol and Grace for the team lead in points last season with 17. Gardner should continue to frustrate opposing teams as the team’s sweeper. Senior Ali Winsky, who started 17 games last year and led the team in defensive saves, will join Gardner in the backfield. Also in the backfield is senior Kelly Soltis, who is coming off an injury that kept her out for most of last season. Sophomores Natalie Serle and Kirsten Balzer are looking to make bigger impacts after strong rookie efforts. Freshmen Lee Evans, Katie Storey, and walk-on Amy Fredericks should fit right in and will look to become key reserves. Goalie Returning senior Kaitlin Tierney enters her final season after posting an impressive .814 save percentage last year, a noticeable improvement from the year before. Her backup, junior Lori Blutinger, should also see a good amount of playing time as well. With the talent that the team possesses, the squad has the potential for a strong season if it can make the proper adjustments coming into this season. “Obviously we want to get to the NCAA tournament and a share of the Ivy title,” said Sykes. “But we must first do everything else right if we are to get there.”Archived article by Chris Callanan
By wpengine
Three years ago, no one was sure how good she’d be. Sure, she had the potential. But potential doesn’t always translate to success. Then, the Cornell field hockey team played Colgate on Sept. 20, 2000 and a star was born. Then-freshman Lindsay Grace burst onto the scene with her first career goal — a gamewinner. Grace wouldn’t stop there. She’d go on to score three more goals as a rookie. She’d follow up a nine-point freshman run with an even better sophomore campaign, notching 14 points, including six goals. “She’s just been an all-around great player since she’s been a freshman,” said her senior teammate Kimmy Gardner. Entering her senior year, Grace is coming off her finest season with the Red. Last year, she was named as an attack on the All-Ivy Second Team. Grace was also one of two players on the squad to be named to the Mid-East Region First Team last season, which marked the first time in school history two players were given that honor. Grace and classmate Carissa Mirasol — the Red’s other honoree — accounted for 17 points apiece last year, and will be crucial to the team reaching its high expectations for this season. The squad finished 2002 with nine victories, tying a school record, but failed to make the postseason. Interim head coach Philip Sykes noted, “A lot of the upperclassmen want to do well,” which could very well be an understatement for this experienced group, headed by Grace and company. Grace finished last season ranked second on the team in goals, with five, including game winners in back-to-back games against Lehigh and Yale. She was also second on the team in assists with seven, which more than doubled her total from the two years prior. When she recorded a point, the Red was 7-1, and when she got hot, so did the team. Grace recorded at least one point in five of the games during the school-record-breaking six-game winning streak and had two multi-goal games, against Lehigh and Columbia. The Columbia game was Grace’s best game last year, as she had a hand in all three of the goals scored by the Red in a 3-1 victory over the Lions. Grace, a tri-captain, has had a stellar career for the Red. She and Mirasol are tied for seventh all-time in goals with 15, and her 40 points rank her eighth in school history. Against the rest of the Ivy League, she has 15 career points, coming on six goals and three assists. She has played in every game for the Red over the past two seasons, and has recorded 10 career assists. Yet the most impressive thing about Grace is her focused attitude when it comes to field hockey, and the leadership she brings to the group. “Lindsay has an infectious attitude and is good with the freshmen because she sets a very good example for them,” Sykes said. When asked about her career stats and honors, Grace stated, “The honors come after the season, and you don’t even think about them during the season.” This season is no different in Grace’s eyes. “I could definitely anticipate postseason play,” she said. “But we are going to take things game by game, weekend by weekend.” In a new system with a brand new head coach and assistant coach, many upperclassmen would be skeptical, but not Grace. “Coach Sykes is an excellent teacher, and he has made the transition a lot easier than we all thought it would be,” she said. Things started off a little shaky last weekend in a loss to Holy Cross, yet both Grace and Sykes noted that a change in the team’s playing styles will take time to learn. “On Saturday, we put it all together,” Grace said of the team’s 2-1 victory over Georgetown. Yet the true tests for Grace and the Red will come later in the season when they will try to avenge their losses from last year against Ivy-rivals Harvard, Brown, Princeton and Yale.Archived article by Chris Mascaro