The major story in American field hockey during the last year was the fact that the United States women’s national team qualified for the Paris Olympics thanks to a thrill-ride of a qualification tournament in India.
The most important match was the tournament semifinal, which saw the United States mount a fourth-quarter comeback, capped off by an Abby Tamer goal, to beat Japan 2-1 and seal the States’ entry to the Olympic tournament.
However, it became clear, after the world rankings posted after the tournament, that the United States would have a difficult road to advance into the knockout stage of the Paris Olympics. The United States’ group had four past Olympic or FIH world champions in its group. The team would wind up finishing fifth in its group.
Despite not qualifying for the octofinal round, the team’s record gave them the best ranking amongst teams not qualifying for the knockout rounds. Still, the States won’t be earning a lot of points in the world rankings because the team is still relegated out of the FIH Pro League.
While the States will maintain cautious optimism on the women’s side in the four years leading to the Los Angeles Olympics, the same cannot be said for the men’s side. The team remains underfunded and underexposed with little to no development apparatus in the U.S.
Allan Law, late the head coach of the U.S. junior women’s national side, has been tasked with developing the men’s national side in the runup to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, and perhaps getting the United Wolves its first Olympic win in its history.
Six women’s Olympians came back to the U.S. collegiate hockey scene, peppering the rosters of Princeton, Michigan, Maryland, Penn State, and Northwestern. All but one made the postseason, and two made the Final Four.
And it was on November 22 when the entire NCAA tournament apparatus was turned on its head. In the space of three hours that afternoon, all three teams which had attained the No. 1 ranking in the national polls suffered defeat in their respective national semifinals. In Division III, Salisbury, which had been the No. 1 team coming into the tournament, lost out to Middlebury, which had held the No. 1 ranking until the week before the tournament.
In Division II, Kutztown took down No. 1 Shippensburg. And in Division I, St. Joseph’s University took down two-time defending national champion North Carolina.
SJU became somewhat of a Cinderella story, even though the program had been building towards prominence for more than a decade. A lot of it was infrastructure, in the building of Ellen Ryan field in 2011 and a new locker room facility in 2016. But the Hawks, heading into the 2024 NCAA Tournament, had been in the headwaters of the national Top 5, and insiders knew that the team had every potential of making some noise.
St. Joseph’s and Massachusetts, members of the Atlantic 10 Conference, upset the usual duopoly of the ACC and Big Ten in terms of collegiate field hockey. However, when the title was on the line, Northwestern, a team with Big Ten membership and two Olympians, had no peer. The Wildcats were majestic in a three-goal first quarter with goals by Zimmer, Ilse Tromp, and Olivia Bent-Cole. Two more goals by the interval put the game to bed.
Elsewhere in college field hockey, St. Anselm won its first Division II championship, and Middlebury won its seventh consecutive Division III title, a streak unprecedented in American college ranks.
In the club field hockey world, Michigan won the National Field Hockey League championship, Delaware won the NFHL Challenge Cup, UCLA won the Western Collegiate Field Hockey Conference, and Colgate won the New York State Club Field Hockey League.
In the scholastic realm, the preseason stories were all about how three domineering private-school teams in Pennsylvania would fare. Those teams were defending PAISAA champion Villanova Academy of Notre Dame de Namur (Pa.), 2022 PAISAA champion Pottstown Hill School (Pa.), and defending PIAA Class AA champion Malvern Villa Maria (Pa.).
The three teams played some great games against each other, but Hill, a team with a number of junior national team players, any of which could score at any time, were at their best in these challenging games. Hill beat Villa Maria 5-0 on October 12th, then swept Academy of Notre Dame 1-0 in a regular-season matchup and 5-1 in the PAISAA final.
After the Hill game, Villa Maria set out on trying to win a public-school state championship in the PIAA. However, the defending Class AA champs were not afforded the opportunity to repeat, as they were assigned to Class AAA for the 2024 and 2025 season. Villa competed extremely well against schools with populations three to four times its size.
Villa Maria would run into a pair of enormous Class AAA schools in its PIAA bracket. Emmaus (Pa.), a team with 1114 female students, came into the state semifinal round as defending champions of the large-school bracket, and with the winningest field hockey coach in NFHS history.
The teams played a taut, defensive game through regulation, and would eventually go into overtime. Villa Maria would win the game on an unforgettable individual effort which started from the right wing. On the play, Jack Shaw’s side-in went to junior forward Caitlin Connell, who used the flat side of the stick to jab at the ball, caressing it into an open space about 10 yards from cage. Connell suddenly lanced a backhander which went into the top shelf to end the game.
Four days later, Villa Maria would face Tredyffrin Conestoga (Pa.), a school with 863 female students. The game would be stalemated after regulation, but the game turned on an unforgettable individual effort which, again, started from the right wing. Conestoga senior Shae Wozniak, who was amongst the nation’s leading goal-scorers for 2024, carried the ball around the corner, beat two Hurricanes off the dribble, then lanced a backhander which smacked the backboard to end the game and give Conestoga its first state championship.
There were other teams which had enormously talented players in 2024, ones which celebrated record performances. Delmar (Del.) rode the overall talent of senior Jordyn Hollamon to the team’s ninth consecutive state championship. Hollamon finished her scholastic career eighth on the career goal-scoring list, as one of only 10 players ever to have more than 200 goals (215 for her whole career, 205 from grades 9-12).
North Caldwell West Essex (N.J.) won its sixth straight state championship in New Jersey for head coach Jill Cosse. Her daughter, Adelaide Minnella, became one of the few scholastic players ever to have two 30-goal, 30-assist seasons. She needs just six assists in her senior year to join the esteemed 100-goal, 100-assist plateau.
Two teams from Massachusetts, Watertown (Mass.) and Uxbridge (Mass.) won their fourth straight state titles. Watertown, led by attacker Rachel Egan, won its 97th game in a row in the state final. Similarly, Yorktown Tabb (Va.) won its 90th straight game as it won its fourth straight title.
Further north Winthrop (Maine) won its fourth straight state field hockey championship with a dramatic win over Dexter (Maine). Madeline Wagner scored the game-winning OT goal, and it was the second time she had won the state final with goal in extra time. The interesting thing is that, this year, she scored for the co-op team with Winthrop and nearby Readfield Maranacook (Maine); the teams competed separately two years ago.
Whitney Point (N.Y.) also was able to win its fourth straight state championship, and its ninth in the last 10 seasons. The Eagles beat Accord Rondout Valley (N.Y.) 2-1 on a late goal to win the championship.
There were other streaks which were kept throughout the 2024 season. Emmaus (Pa.), despite its loss in the state semifinals, kept its remarkable streak of 36 consecutive District XI titles going. But another remarkable playoff streak ended this past year. Skowhegan (Maine) Area had won 23 straight Maine Principals Association Class A North titles, but that ended this year when Brewer (Maine) beat the RiverHawks 3-0.
One great thing about the 2024 scholastic season is that a large number of teams won their first terminal postseason championship title this year:
La Jolla Bishop’s School (Calif.): CIF San Diego Open Division
Poway (Calif.): CIF San Diego Division 1
San Diego Mission Bay (Calif.): CIF San Diego Division 2
Westport Green Farms Academy (Conn.): NEPSAC Class C
Manchester (Md.) Valley: MPSSAA Class 2A
Cary (N.C.) Christian: NCISAA Championship
Chelsea (Mich.): MHSFHA Division 2
Keene (N.H.): NHIAA Division 1
Hollis-Brookline (N.H.): NHIAA Division 2
Eliottsburg West Perry (Pa.): PIAA Class A
Tredyffrin Conestoga (Pa.): PIAA Class AAA
Woonsocket Mount Saint Charles (R.I.): Small Independent School Cup
Suffolk Nansemond River (Va.): VHSL Class 5A
Charlottesville St. Anne’s Belfield (Va.): VISAA Division 2
In addition, a number of schools fell one game short of their first-ever title in 2024:
La Jolla (Calif.): CIF San Diego Open Division
San Diego San Dieguito Academy (Calif.): CIF San Diego Division 2
Wilmington (Del.) Friends: DIAA Division 2
Brewer (Maine): MPA Class A
Accord Rondout Valley (N.Y.): NYSPHSAA Class C
Dillsburg Northern York (Pa.): PIAA Class AA
Boiling Springs (Pa.): PIAA Class A
Arlington Bishop O’Connell (Va.): VISAA Division 1
Oakton (Va.): VHSL Class 6A
We’ve covered a number of teams which have been able to extend their dominance over their domains over the course of seasons, years, and even decades, but this number of first-time champions has to bode well for the sport’s future.
The end of the 2024 domestic season saw a number of coaches leaving their positions, notably Colleen Fink at the University of Pennsylvania, Daan Polders at Mount Olive University, Mary Werkheiser at Norfolk (Va.) Academy, and Jodi Hollamon at Delmar (Del.).
Polders and Hollamon are especially of note as two of the only head coaches (that we know of) who won field hockey state championships in more than one state.
