So much of the 2024 Division I college field hockey season has been a series of titanic battles within the two top conferences in the land, the ACC and Big Ten.
And then, there’s the No. 5 team in all the land, St. Joseph’s University. It is now the finest team in Philadelphia, something that you might have not been able to say about the side for much of the last 40 years.
When the Hawks were playing an independent schedule, they were outstanding. In their inaugural season back in 1975, they went 7-1, losing only to West Chester. A decade later, they went 13-2.
But eventually, SJU found its way into competition in the always-competitive Atlantic 10. The Hawks have dominated play in the A-10 in recent years, winning six out of the last seven A-10 NCAA Tournament bids; the only one they missed out on was the Coronavirus season of 2020-21, when they lost out to Virginia Commonwealth in the tournament final.
Coaching the team is former U.S. women’s national team player Hannah Prince, who has paid her dues in the coaching ranks, taking numerous positions the last decade before ascending Hawk Hill. But I think the telling part of her career is the fact that she played in a World Cup for the U.S. women’s national indoor team.
As such, she values players who have great skills in tight spaces. One such player, Lily Santi, is the Hawks’ leading scorer this season and has had an illustrious career for the program.
St. Joseph’s has been doing quite well this season, and, despite yesterday’s overtime loss to Harvard, should be a team to take seriously in the NCAA Tournament. I think the Hawks are a team which could be a proverbial “bracket buster” in this year’s tournament.
