University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Hofstra University
Field Hockey Begins New Era, Looks to Remain Dominant
2/12/2021 11:10:00 AM | Field Hockey
On Saturday, the UConn field hockey team begins its season with a game against Hofstra at 3 p.m. at the Sherman Sports Complex on campus. Usually a fall sport, field hockey is playing now after the Big East decided to move all its fall sports to the spring due to COVID-19.
It's a new era for the field hockey program, but for a different reason than the rest of UConn's teams. Field hockey is the only UConn sport that wasn't affected by the move back to the Big East because it had never left the conference in the first place.
No, this season marks a new era because for the first time in over 30 years, Nancy Stevens is not leading the Huskies on the sideline. Stevens, the winningest field hockey coach in NCAA history, announced her retirement last August, but she will remain with the team on a volunteer basis.
Her replacement as head coach is a familiar face to the program, Paul Caddy. Caddy has been an assistant coach on Stevens' staff for 19 seasons, serving as the associate head coach for the last 10. It's still a changing of the guard for sure, but Caddy will likely be an extension of what made Stevens such a legendary coach.
Caddy will look to maintain the dynasty that UConn field hockey has become in the last decade. The Huskies have won the last eight Big East Tournaments and the last seven Big East regular season titles. They also won three NCAA national championships in that time and haven't missed the NCAA Tournament since 2001.
The team will try to keep that success going this season, and they have the personnel to do it, including the team's second-leading scorer from 2019, Sophie Hamilton. The Huskies are also returning their starting goalkeeper Cheyenne Sprecher, who is coming off a season where she led the country in save percentage and goals against average.
Other main contributors returning to the team this season are back Claire Jandewerth and midfielder Julia Dembrowski.
This is going to be an unusual season. Besides it being played in the spring instead of the fall, there will also likely be last minute schedule changes and postponements as college sports continue to navigate the world of COVID-19. The good thing for the Huskies is that their schedule is very regional this season. They don't have to travel farther than Philadelphia for any of their games.
Right now, the schedule has 17 games on it, including 12 Big East matchups. The Huskies will look to win a majority of those games in order to put themselves in a position to compete for yet another National Championship.
