By Julian Markese
Sports Editor
For the first time since 2013, the field hockey team will get the chance to play a postseason game. The Owls beat Franklin Pierce University on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Jess Dow Field 4-2 to secure the No. 7 seed.
It was senior day, and each senior celebrated by finding their way on to the stat sheet. They will have a chance to play at least one more game as a reward for their lifelong dedication to the sport.
“This is the first year we’ve had the personnel to make this happen,” Head Coach Kelley Frassinelli said. “We were building it last year. That was the foundation; this was the team that was going to be able to break through.”
And break through they have. Their six conference wins are as many as the team has had since 2010. They have found success in large part thanks to their senior leadership and togetherness.
“This team has put in the work this year. We’re trusting each other. We’re talking to each other, communicating and working for each other,” midfielder Taylor Leckey, a senior, said. “So, I think we deserve that extra game.”
Leckey has been the star of the team all season. She had an assist against Franklin Pierce, bringing her season total to nine, which led the team. Leckey also led the team in goals and defensive stops.
“She’s just been an incredible player for us,” Frassinelli said. “She just outsmarts the players that she’s playing against.”
Leckey transferred from Middlebury College, where she won two NCAA Championships. She has been a pivotal difference maker for the Owls in her two seasons serving in the heart of the midfield.
Her fellow captain, forward Natalia Fiato, a senior, also contributed an assist in her final home game.
“Nat plays with high speed, gets us into spaces on the attacking side, and she has the awareness to shoot inside the circle,” Frassinelli said.
Fiato has used that awareness to tally six goals this season and 12 in her career with the team. She is a versatile player who has played both forward and midfield for the Owls.
With three seasons on the field for the university, Fiato is the longest tenured of the three seniors.
“It’s bittersweet,” Fiato said. “I’ve been playing my whole life, and to see it end is sad. But I’m very grateful for my team and grateful that the only time I’ve made the postseason is my last season.”
Fiato shared the same sentiment as defender McKenzie Fairfax, a senior. Fairfax transferred from Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, leading the Owls in defensive saves last season.
“I wanted a different level of play, and this is what I got,” Fairfax said. “When I came, they welcomed me with open arms, and from there, my skills grew.”
Fairfax translated those skills into the best reward possible against Franklin Pierce: a goal. It was the first of her Owls career and excited the home crowd as such.
“She’s our sniper,” Frassinelli said. “She is always controlled, patient and always comes up with the ball. Her skills and what she’s been able to do with the ball this year coming out of our defensive end has been instrumental for us.”
The team finds itself in unfamiliar territory; but Leckey, Fiato and Fairfax bring a steadying presence to the locker room and a maturity that is necessary at times like these.
“It’s more than just field hockey with this group,” Fairfax said. “You go through ups and downs in every game and practice, so you have to have a grateful outlook.”
As grateful as they may be to play another game, the team has set their sights even higher.
“I don’t see it ending on Tuesday. I’m really hopeful we can keep going,” Fiato said. “Just because we’re the lower seed, that doesn’t mean anything. I think we want it more than any other team in the conference.”
The team will travel to face Adelphi University in their first round matchup of the NE10 Championship on Tuesday, Nov. 4. They will carry with them the opportunity to improve on an already successful campaign.
“You get into that tournament, and you can take anything on any given day,” Frassinelli said. “We have a lot more to prove, and we want to be able to extend that into the next thing.”
