Trinity Field Hockey: Captains Reflect on the Kickoff of the 2025 Season

Annika Haley ’26

Sports Editor

The Trinity College field hockey team has opened the fall with a competitive but challenging start, sitting at 2–5 overall after the first four weeks of play. The Bantams kicked off the season with an exciting 4–3 road victory over Smith College, powered by two goals from Aly Janssen ’28 and Brooke Dibiase ’27 in a fast-paced matchup. Trinity also showed its offensive depth in a 6–4 win over Springfield College, where Claire Griffith ’28, Livy Vincent ’29, Alison Gerber ’29, Riley Harrington ’28, and Dibiase all found the back of the net to seal the victory.

While the Bantams have displayed offensive power, the road in the competitive NESCAC has been more difficult. Trinity fell just short against Bates in its conference opener, lost a hard-fought 1–0 overtime game to defending national champion Middlebury, and narrowly lost 1–0 to fifth-ranked Williams in another competitive matchup. Goalkeeper Hayley Gable ’26 has been a solid presence throughout conference play to keep the Bantams within striking and scoring distance in close defensive battles.

With early non-conference wins and three narrow setbacks to nationally-ranked NESCAC opponents, the Bantams have proven they can compete with top programs at a high level. The resilience they showed during the first four weeks of their season set the stage for two important matches on Wednesday, Sept. 24, and Sunday, Sept. 28.

On Sept. 24th, the Bantams fell just short to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) at H. Carr Field in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Bantams began the game with the lead as Griffith found Diabise on a cross ball to make the score 1–0. Trinity remained in the lead for the next forty minutes and controlled possession until the Engineers capitalized on a Bantam turnover to even the score at 1–1. Less than two minutes later, the Engineers carried their momentum from the previous goal and quickly scored again to pull ahead.

On the 28th, the Bantams fell 4–2 to #6 Babson College in a competitive non-conference game on the road. Babson struck first in the opening quarter, but Trinity’s Vincent tied the game early in the second before the Beavers regained the lead heading into halftime. After Babson pulled ahead further in the third, Fiona Murphy ’27 responded by scoring off a well-placed feed from DiBiase to pull the Bantams back within one goal. However, Babson sealed the hard-fought win with a decisive fourth-quarter goal to ultimately put the game out of reach.

The Tripod spoke with captains Maeve Hymovitz ’26 and Lucy Werner ’26 to reflect on the team’s start and discuss their goals for the rest of the season. When asked how the team is handling the early challenges of the season, Hymovitz ‘s response reflected both growth and optimism: “The team’s mindset has definitely gone up since previous games. We started off the season playing National ranked teams which has not been the best outcome for us but we have moved past that by working together as a team both on and off the field. We think we have seen improvements everywhere and we are really excited for what is to come.”

That focus on improvement and resilience extends to how the leaders keep the team’s confidence high even when results don’t go their way. Werner stated, “We try to look at the practices with every game. We have had really close games the whole season and that is something that is getting to us. The positivity both on and off the field is what is getting us through it. We continue to lead the team by reminding them that this is a new season and we can have new outcomes by playing together. We have the team motto ‘Love this team,’ which has helped through the good and bad times of the season so far.”

Defensively, the team has also embraced a new mindset to help close out tight games as Hymovitz said: “We had a mindset of taking a breath on the field after a goal was scored. We like to say ‘the next two,’ as in the next two minutes is our time to play our best. We keep the team looking forward and reminding people that though we got scored on, we still have time in the game to come back and we need to focus on that.”

Looking ahead, the team is setting clear goals for the remainder of the season with a strong emphasis on progress and unity. Werner said: “A goal the team has set for the rest of the season is that we need to look forward. We had a tough season last year and we need to remember this is not the same year. We have been doing so much better as a team and being able to remember that it’s critical to move forward and leave last season in the past. As I said before, a motto our team has is ‘Love this team,’ and it is a reminder that we have so many people behind us and supporting us to work towards our goals of winning and competing at a high level.”