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Post by diehardexplorer on Oct 23, 2023 8:56:32 GMT -5
don't look now, but in addition to the success of women's soccer, the women's field hockey team is 12-4 overall and 5-1 in a10 play. they have clinched at least a tie for 2nd (with vcu) and a spot in the a10 tournament and could even finish first if they upset nationally ranked st joe's (pa) on friday. congrats to interim coach katie bam, her staff and the team on a great season. coach bam took over the team in august after coach loncarica had to take a leave of absence for the season to take care of herself due to a high risk twin pregancy. hopefully she is doing fine.
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Post by explorer88 on Oct 23, 2023 9:35:57 GMT -5
Was going to write something about this. Since I have been La Salle fan the field hockey team has always been one of the lower tier programs in the A-10. It is great to see the program thriving and steering through uncharted waters. Hope fully they keep this rolling through the A-10 tourney.
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Oct 23, 2023 9:54:59 GMT -5
I was surprised to see there are only 82 D1 field hockey programs, and 8 in the A10 (including Lock Haven for some reason). St. Joe's and UMass are ranked in the Top 20.
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Post by hykos1045 on Oct 23, 2023 12:57:17 GMT -5
That's fantastic. Now I wonder if the moving the games off campus precipitated the jump. It seems like they've taken on a more professional caliber system. Would someone on the inside please share more? We need it to be contagious, just as it was when the 2 soccer teams caught fire in 2011-.
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Post by golasalle on Oct 24, 2023 9:25:55 GMT -5
That's fantastic. Now I wonder if the moving the games off campus precipitated the jump. It seems like they've taken on a more professional caliber system. Would someone on the inside please share more? We need it to be contagious, just as it was when the 2 soccer teams caught fire in 2011-. Hoykos, the move to playing and practicing off campus was necessitated by La Salle's lack of a dedicated water turf field. We are not alone on this as I think there are only a couple in the city. Water turf incredibly speeds up the game and it really is a must in order to play at a higher level. They literally soak the artificial surface with sprinklers and the ball hydroplanes and moves at incredible speeds. I think that the A10 tourney will be at VCU, who has one. They may be the only team in the conference with one on campus (I could be wrong about this but the majority do not have them). I watched the second half of the La Salle/VCU game and both sides had some really talented players. La Salle looks like they have upped their recruiting game. |
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Post by NickySiggs12 on Oct 24, 2023 11:04:27 GMT -5
That's fantastic. Now I wonder if the moving the games off campus precipitated the jump. It seems like they've taken on a more professional caliber system. Would someone on the inside please share more? We need it to be contagious, just as it was when the 2 soccer teams caught fire in 2011-. Current senior at La Salle with some insight on the program's turnaround. My freshman year was the Covid-season that was played in the spring of 2021 instead of the typical fall timeline. The team went 0-11 that season and the head coach was fired. Her replacement, Martina Loncarica, has done a really solid job of recruiting internationally and I think that has helped the program complete a total 180. Our leading scorer this season is a freshman from Argentina (Loncarica herself was from Argentina and came to play field hockey in the United States) where several other key players are from, and our best goalkeeper is a German transfer student. While the roster is still packed with local PA and Jersey talent it is clear the influx of international students has helped this year's field hockey rise to the level they have been playing at. Curious to see if the men's basketball and soccer teams see a spike in performance considering both teams have also been going with a more international recruitment angle. |
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Oct 24, 2023 14:00:32 GMT -5
St. Joe's (ranked 14th) has a big international component as well: 2 from Argentina, 5 from The Netherlands, and 1 from Canada. Same with UMass (ranked 20th) who has players from The Netherlands, Belgium, England, Bavaria, Argentina, and South Africa.
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Post by hykos1045 on Oct 24, 2023 22:20:25 GMT -5
Very cool! I did not realize I would get perspective of a player during my inquiry, so that was a welcome surprise. Good luck to the FH program on the current resurgence. And thanks for all the info, everyone.
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Nov 2, 2023 16:52:14 GMT -5
Tough 4-0 loss to the Hawks in the semis, ending their season. La Salle only managed 2 shots in the contest, none on goal.
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Post by roaddog77 on Nov 3, 2023 10:51:58 GMT -5
Congratulations on a great season. Thank you.
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Post by belfieldhappyhour on Nov 3, 2023 18:12:49 GMT -5
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Post by 23won on Nov 6, 2023 17:35:04 GMT -5
Wow! Congrats on a terrific season!
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Post by GlitterBro #2 on Dec 12, 2023 13:08:08 GMT -5
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Post by hykos1045 on Dec 13, 2023 5:50:16 GMT -5
Sounds like a "step up" to me, Glitter.
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