|
It is no coincidence that Miriam Esber’s steady growth as a field hockey and women’s lacrosse player at The College of Wooster went hand-in-hand with the success that those programs had during her time on campus, as both teams went .500 or below during her freshman year, then improved each season, culminating in North Coast Athletic Conference championships and trips to the NCAA Div. III Tournament when she was a senior.
Esber was a two-time all-region performer in field hockey at Oxford High School in Talawanda, Ohio, as well as a varsity softball player, but it wasn’t until she came to Wooster and was convinced by some classmates “to try lacrosse,” a sport she had never played at any level. And while it wasn’t a surprise to see Esber become a standout field hockey player at Wooster, the fact that she went on to reach equally impressive heights with the Scots’ lacrosse team is what makes her career even more special.
The field hockey program transformed into a conference power with Esber anchoring the middle of the field, as it won six games her freshman season, and then 11, 13, and finally, 16 her senior year en route to its first outright NCAC championship. In the NCAA Tournament, Esber scored a goal, but Wooster was eliminated, thanks in part to a tough draw, as defending national champion William Smith College prevailed 4-1.
She was a very defensive-minded midfielder early in her career, but by her senior year, Esber had developed into a complete player, finishing third in the league scoring race at 1.45 points per game (12 goals, 5 assists), while also helping the Scots’ defense allow just 17 goals all season.
Esber was the second, and remains one of just three players, in program history to be selected all-region all four years, which included a first-team nod as a senior, and she picked up four all-conference certificates along the way as well, with three first-team honors.
“(Miriam) was one of the most accurate, hardest hitters to the point where defenders would just step out of the way,” recalled Wooster head coach Brenda Meese. “She was also one of the very best hitters I’ve ever had on a corner.”
And while she was helping lead field hockey’s turnaround each fall, she was giving the lacrosse team the same boost in the spring, as it improved from 8-8 to 12-6 over a four-year span, with the latter being the most wins in school history at the time, resulting in the program’s first conference championship, as it knocked off Denison University, which had won nearly all (14-of-17) of the league’s titles up to that point.
Esber just got her feet wet as a first-time lacrosse player her first year, then became a major contributor across the board, seemingly overnight, as she scored over 20 goals each of the next three seasons, while ranking among the league’s best in draw controls, caused turnovers, and groundballs. In fact, she was listed among the top-10 in the country in draw controls her junior year. Overall, she was two-time all-region and three-time all-conference in lacrosse, sweeping first-team awards as a senior.
“She was very successful academically as well … she really (was) the epitome of the NCAA Div. III two-sport athlete,” Meese added.
Esber, who designed her own major (sport and society) at Wooster, went on to earn a master’s degree in sport science at Ithaca College in 2004, where she also worked as a graduate assistant coach with the lacrosse team. Currently, she is entering her seventh year as head lacrosse coach at Mount Holyoke College, and like she did at Wooster, is orchestrating a turnaround, as her team has gone from 2-13 her first year to a school-record 13-4 last spring. She has twice been named New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
Personally, Esber lives with her partner, Jen Cullen, in Northampton, Mass. She enjoys outdoor activities like biking, kayaking, and hiking, and spending time with her dog, Roxy, and she also has conquered yet another sport, playing competitively on a women’s ice hockey team.