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| Grace O'Leary is one of three captains leading the 2019 squad. |
In her second year as the head coach for The College of Wooster field hockey team, Jill Dixon has the difficult task of improving upon her 2018 campaign where the Scots defied expectations and ended right on the outside of making the NCAA Championships.
"It was a big year for me as a first-year head coach," Dixon said. "Working with players who were excited for a change - they were a motivated, close knit group, and I feel like it was all of the things a coach dreams of when coming in. They were willing to put in the work, and we were able as a coaching staff to create a vision for them and motivate them."
That led to a culture that propelled the field hockey team to a 15-6 record and a loss to Denison University in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game. While they fell just short of winning a conference title, the team blew past expectations after being picked sixth of eight teams in the NCAC Preseason Coaches' poll to finish second overall.
Now in year two Dixon and her squad will look to carry that culture into 2019. She brings back a solid core from 2018 and enters with her first recruiting class.
"There is still work to be done," Dixon said. "We set a high bar last year, but the girls are ready to come back and do even better."
Wooster had three of the top six goal scorers in the conference in 2018 including the overall leader in Sydney Schuster. Schuster was named First Team All-Region and All-NCAC and will return for her junior campaign after leading the conference with 47 points and 21 goals.
Classmate Caitlyn O'Connor joins her after a 15-goal campaign that put her fourth among conference leaders.
O'Connor, Sammi Pavlecic, Grace O'Leary and Emma Hambright compose the left side of the field that brings a wealth of experience.
"They clicked really well last year, but we have to make sure we're not favoring the left side and ignoring the right, and that will be pretty important," Dixon said.
The right side will have some openings after the graduations of All-NCAC players Erika Womack and Rose Taylor.
"We'll see who is going to step up and fill those positions," Dixon said. "We'll always have the best 11 out there, and it's going to be tough to replace the patience, the speed and the talent of who we lost, but I have confidence they're going to step up and fill those roles."
Harriet Sudduth and Katie Thompson join O'Leary and Hambright in an experienced backfield. O'Leary, Sudduth and Schuster are this year's captains.
The defense will be supporting returning goalkeeper Katie Shideler, an All-NCAC First Team and All-Region Second Team selection. Shideler went 14-6 last year starting in all but one game and reached double figures in saves five times throughout the season.
Wooster's other two returnees are junior Maggie Brown and sophomore Katie Agatucci. They are two players Dixon is excited to see this year with a chance at more playing time.
Six first-year players fill out the roster, and Dixon expects contributions out of the group especially when looking to fill the right side of the field.
"They have already adopted a lot of our team aspects in terms of team culture, work ethic and who our biggest rivals are, and they're already fired up for those conference games," Dixon said.
Wooster opens the season at home against Wittenberg University in a non-conference game on Aug. 31. They travel to Wittenberg to open NCAC play on Oct. 5 and will travel to Denison University on Oct. 12.