Fhnewsfall2016

Field Hockey News

FALL/2016

LETTER FROM THE ASSOCIATION Dear Alumnae and Friends of Yale Field Hockey,

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he 2016 Yale Field Hockey season is here. The team has descended on Johnson Field for hours of training on the bulldog blue turf to prepare for the challenging schedule ahead. It is set to be a thrilling fall campaign with 17 games, four of which will be against 2015 NCAA tournament teams. As alumnae and friends, we have a challenge ahead of us as well. Not only are we called to support the team from the stands, but we are also called to support the team with our contributions.

With that, we are raising the bar again in the Fourth Annual YFH Alum Dawg Challenge. Our 2016-2017 goal is to raise $80,000 with 100% participation. Last year we exceeded our goal of $60,000 with 24% participation. This year, we are aiming higher!

How does the Alum Dawg Challenge Work?

The YFH association has been split into five teams, each challenged to raise $16,000 by the end of season (November 20). The team that fundraises the most by the end of the competition will have a class plaque displayed in the Yale Field Hockey coach’s office for years to come!

We are aiming for 100% participation this year! We will be sending updates along the way so keep an eye out on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram.

We hope you also find this to be a great opportunity to re-connect with teammates throughout the years. Find your new team below and let’s get moving!

We have regrouped and renamed the five teams to spice up this challenge and even out the number of participants.

Find your team and get moving!

Team Eli’s (1975, 1982, 1985, 1992, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2012, 2015) Team Dawgs (1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006 , 2011, 2016) Team Big Blue (1973, 1977, 1983, 1987, 1993, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2013, 2017) Team Sterling (1979, 1980, 1989, 1990, 1999, 2000, 2009, 2010, 2019, 2020) Team Ivy (1974, 1978, 1984, 1988, 1994, 1998, 2004, 2008, 2014, 2018) Our involvement is integral to the Yale Field Hockey program as we not only secure the maintenance of the program but also help in the commitment to excellence in the years to come.

Here is a reminder of how your contribution impacts the program: •$2500 ($500/year for 5 years) provides critical support of expensive recruiting and out-of-region travel costs.

•$1,000 ($200/year for 5 years) supports necessary equipment purchases, such as balls, sticks, cages, uniforms, and other costs.

•$500 ($100/year for 5 years) supports critical computer and software upgrades, video editing software, and online game film exchange.

•$100 helps defray the cost of the field hockey players’ travel (meals, lodging, and transportation) on the road.

•$50 provides one player’s practice gear (shirt, shorts, and socks).

•$25 provides one player’s per diem for game day.

Truly, no gift is too small, and every gift counts toward helping the field hockey program achieve its goals.

There are multiple ways to show your support, outlined below: •Write a check payable to Yale University and mail it to Yale Field Hockey Association, P.O. Box 1844, New Haven, CT 06508-1844.

•Visit giving.yale.edu to pay by credit card and be sure to select Athletics and then Field Hockey in the drop down menu. You can also donate stocks and securities, transfer credit card points, make a planned gift, and give through your reunion. Visit our Association page for more information.

•And for those in the classes of 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2012 all gifts count towards your reunion giving this fiscal year.

So join the team and be #allin! We want to see from you how you are #allin, so please post to the YFH alum page with #allin with how you are supporting Yale! We want to see your smiling faces in Yale gear, whether it be at a game or just out and about in your daily life!

Thank you in advance for supporting Yale Field Hockey. We need everyone to step up and do her part. Yale Field Hockey was an integral part of all our educational and athletic experiences, and this is the time to give back to ensure the same for those who follow in our footsteps.

Every gift matters. Now is the time to dig deep, participate, and give back to the program that gave so much to you during those bright college years.

Go Bulldogs!

Lorraine Pratte Lewis ’78 President

Heather Orrico ’07 Chair, Yale Field Hockey Assoc.

Fundraising Committee

More about these giving methods, including reunion giving, can be found by visiting: http://www.yalebulldogs.com/information/alumni/ association/index

FIELD HOCKEY / FALL 2016

2016 ALUMNAE FETE

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e had an outstanding evening of food, fun, and fellowship at the fourth annual YFH Alumnae Fete on February 19, 2016, at the Yale Club of New York. The evening was organized by Taylor Sankovich, chair of the Association’s mentoring committee, and Jan Seeley, Association vice president.

The entire team attended, which also served as the Association’s annual mentoring night. The team was accompanied by Pam Stuper, Caroline Ruth Thompson ’02 Head Coach of Field Hockey; Nikki Parsley and Mary Beth Barham, assistant coaches; Jordan Paolucci, trainer; and Daphne Benas, former trainer. The sophomores, juniors, and seniors were paired with mentors who share their career interests. All of the players networked with scores of alumnae. We tried something new this year and had a theme for the

evening—Resiliency. Emcees Taylor and Jan shared their thoughts and some stories written by alums about their experiences with resiliency. Krissy Nesburg ’04 and Sandy Morse ’74 were the featured speakers and shared their own personal stories of resilience.

Following the Fete, Coach Pam Stuper circulated “Reflections on Resiliency,” submitted by 13 alumnae and noted: “After I listened to the speakers and read the YFH Association ‘Reflections on Resiliency,’ there was one resounding message: without adversity, struggles, grief, challenges, and obstacles, none of us would be who we are today. Physical and mental toughness, persistence, adaptability, tenacity, bending, belief, faith, encouragement, good role models, and the ability to lean on others helps build our resiliency and ultimately triumph!”

LESSONS IN RESILIENCY BY KRISSY NESBURG ’04 uring the doldrums of February, much motivation is required to leave my cozy Friday night cocoon (which typically includes Netflix, Mexican delivery, blankets, dogs, couch). In February, I generally congratulate myself for making it to office, hitting the gym (maybe), and spending time in Tribeca with my insanely adorable nieces (shout out to my big sister, Kara Dennis ’02, for making that happen!).

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maneuvering around a difficult boss who has it out for you). Common themes for tapping into resilience included conjuring up an internal resourcefulness, falling back on routine, and controlling what you can control. Importantly, the discussions caused many of us to reflect on the lessons taught to us by Yale Field Hockey and how we are already applying these lessons to “real world problems.”

But this particular Friday in February, I was summoned to a different cocoon of sorts—to the Yale Club and the Field Hockey Alumnae Fete. Email threads from some of my former teammates (and coaches—a big shout out to Carolyn Cahill, aka “Pokie,” who made an epic appearance!) started flying the week before. All of us pushed each other to conjure the motivation to show up for what we all knew would be a great event.

More than once, we discussed a challenged face at YFH—perhaps a difficult losing season, an injury, an epically terrible gauntlet, or a perennial ogre in Princeton. But we made it through these challenges and nurtured a reserve of resilience that could be tapped into during later times.

We gathered at the Trumbull Room in the Yale Club—the wine flowed as we settled into round tables. The theme of the Fete this year was resilience—how do we develop and use the tools necessary to persevere through a difficult period of our lives? We had a number of shared stories and speeches with challenges ranging from tackling new life experiences (moving to a foreign country with no money, pre-internet days!), workplace stress (tactics for

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And like any great Yale Field Hockey event, the “serious” discussions pivoted easily into a lighter, merrier side. The wine flowed easily and the stories—both old and new—started rippling across the tables in the hall. As I surveyed the room and laughed along with former teammates, it was not lost on me that our shared experiences as an YFH tribe will always contribute to our resilience, even away from the friendly confines of the Yale Club. Nevertheless, it’s all the more reason to shake off the winter doldrums and make it out to the Fete in February 2017!

FIELD HOCKEY / FALL 2016

COACH’S CORNER Dear Association members,

RESILIENCE was the theme of our Fete last February. We carried many of the lessons learned that night through our non-traditional season right into summer training. The Bulldogs read the book, Resilience, by Eric Greitens this summer and shared their thoughts in an essay sent to me in August, which counted as points toward their pre-season Dawg Challenge.

Resilience is part of our team slogan this season. The acronym #FERDA stands for Fundamentals, Enthusiasm, Resilience, Determination and Absolutely no BS. You will hear the team yell “FERDA TEAM!” CAROLINE RUTH THOMPSON '02 HEAD COACH OF FIELD HOCKEY, PAM STUPER

In the book Resilience in Letter 2 “Why Resilience?” there is a quote from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: “Of all the virtues we can learn, no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.” This letter starts with…“Walker, Resilience is the key to a well-lived life. If you want to be happy, you need resilience. If you want to be successful you need resilience. You need resilience because you can’t have happiness, success, or anything else worth having without meeting hardship along the way.”

The last two years have been filled with hardship. There may be more to come, but what impresses me most about this team is their resilience, which is finally paying off! Look at the pictures below. You can see happiness on their faces. Their smiles say it all!

Saturday, October 1, is Alumnae Weekend and our game against Princeton at 12:00 p.m. on Johnson Field. If you can’t make it that weekend, come to another home game or one on the road. Thanks to the incredible generosity of an alum, our home games are now web-streamed live on game day this season! Visit our YFH website’s schedule page and click “video” to link to the Ivy League Digital Network to sign up for the service. See for yourself – our resilience…our happiness…our success!

PHOTOS: GREGG ZELKIN, SAM RUBIN

Go Dawgs!

Pam

CAPTAIN’S CIRCLE STEFFI KATZ ’17

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f past is prologue, if examining what has come before might provide insight into what might be, two games stand out from last year—the two that bookended the 2015 Ivy season. The Harvard game was tremendously competitive and extremely hard-fought, testing physical and emotional limits. Yale exhibited relentless defense, repeatedly denying the Harvard attack. The Bulldog offense was unleashed in the season finale against Brown. The final score bore tangible proof of the team’s great potential.

Competitive and confident, Yale enters the 2016 season with the experience of playing against some of the premier teams in the NCAA. The now-seasoned core team will be joined by a talented group of freshmen. Committed to a season of successes, the veterans of the grueling 2015 campaign intend to settle the score with Ivy rivals.

If past is indeed prologue, we must acknowledge that those who have come before us make possible the very future of the program.

In a chain of continuity, we stand on the shoulders of those who founded Yale Field Hockey, those who played for Yale Field Hockey, and those who have supported Yale Field Hockey. They have enabled us to recruit talented American and international scholar athletes, they have provided us with first-class facilities, and they have empowered the Yale program to compete at the highest level of intercollegiate field hockey.

Make sure to join us at Johnson Field or on the road at our away games. Your vocal support in the stands means so much.

2016 Yale Field Hockey: competitive, confident, committed. The best is yet to come.

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FIELD HOCKEY / FALL 2016

SUMMER IN ITALY

BY ALYSSA WEISS ’17 AND MARISSA MEDICI ’19 Alyssa During the week, one of my favorite things to do was sit in Piazza del Campo at night with my classmates. Our weekends, however, were really different: we were only in Siena for the weekend of the Palio, a traditional horse race that began in the 1700s. Ten of the 17 contrade—a contrada is a small neighborhood community that pretty much defines your identity in Siena race—participated in the July 2nd Palio.

On the other weekends, we went to Florence, Rome, and Cinque Terre. In Florence, we took tours of the Uffizi Gallery and later the Gallery of the Academy of Florence, where we were able to see Michelangelo’s David statue. We went to the Medici Gardens, which were beautiful (over the course of the trip, Marissa was asked about a hundred times if she was actually related to the Medici family).

PICTURED ABOVE: ALYSSA WEISS ΈLEFTΉ AND MARISSA MEDICI SPENT THEIR SUMMER IN ITALY.

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fter three weeks of intensive language and culture study in New Haven, we went to Siena, Italy, for five weeks.

Alyssa At the beginning of the summer, my Italian knowledge consisted of about two words: ciao and pizza, but now I can also confidently say gelato, pasta, and of course hockey su prato. I took introductory Italian this summer and had an amazing time with Marissa in Italy.

Marissa During my freshman year, I took the advice of Carol Middough ’18, Tess Thompson ’18, Katie Smith ’18, and Lily Smith ’18 and pursued introductory Italian. While I was slightly skeptical at first since I also had no experience with Italian before, their advice proved to be true, and I ended up loving it so much that I enrolled in intermediate Italian for the summer. Again, this was the right summer choice because I had a blast living in Siena, spending time with Alyssa and other Yale students, and of course eating all of the delicious cuisine Italy has to offer.

A typical day for me looked a little something like this: I would wake up at around 8:30 a.m. and head to the University of Siena, which is interestingly enough a converted medieval mental hospital, for Italian language class at 9:30 a.m. When class ended at 12:30 p.m., I’d grab lunch at one of many authentic Italian restaurants nearby with friends. Then, I returned to the university at 2:00 p.m. for my Tuscan Film and Culture class, which was 50 percent in a classroom and 50 percent touring. After class, I’d head to the gym, “Palestra Physical Center,” to get in some weight lifting, sometimes with a kettle bell class. Afterward, I’d often go to the Medici Fortress—the equivalent of a medieval track—to run sprints or intervals and/or play some hockey. Then, I’d shower before an 8:00 p.m. dinner with my wonderful host family. Postdinner, I’d study and occasionally treat myself with gelato. Not a bad daily routine, right?

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During the weekend in Rome, we went to Vatican City and saw St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, both of which were incredibly beautiful. I loved Rome: it’s so rich with history yet is a bustling modern city. We also saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Trevi Fountain.

We spent our last weekend in Cinque Terre, which is a set of five towns on the coast of the Italian Riviera. I spent an incredible day at the beach in Monterosso al Mare while Marissa went on an 18mile hike through all five villages.

Marissa My favorite Italian city was Florence because its history is so fascinating to me, and the views from nearly every corner are breathtaking.

Overall, our experience abroad was priceless. We feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in a different culture, form bonds with Yale students we wouldn't usually have met, and get ahead on credits so that we can be more focused on field hockey in season. While we loved studying abroad and traveling, we’re excited to be back at school and do everything we can do to vie for an Ivy League Championship. Arrivederci!

FIELD HOCKEY / FALL 2016

SAVE THE DATE

February 24, 2017 2017 Fete in New York City 7pm in the Trumbull Room - Yale Club of New York FALL FIELD HOCKEY SCHEDULE 2016 DATE Sat, 09/03/2016 Mon, 09/05/2016 Sat, 09/10/2016 Sun, 09/11/2016 Sat, 09/17/2016 Sun, 09/18/2016 Fri, 09/23/2016 Sun, 09/25/2016 Sat, 10/01/2016 Sat, 10/08/2016 Sun, 10/09/2016 Sat, 10/15/2016 Sun, 10/16/2016 Sat, 10/22/2016 Sat, 10/29/2016 Sun, 10/30/2016 Sat, 11/05/2016

OPPONENT Sacred Heart at Bryant LafayeƩe Hofstra at Albany Georgetown at Harvard * Stanford Princeton * at Cornell * at Bucknell at Dartmouth * at ConnecƟcut Penn * Columbia * Quinnipiac at Brown *

START/FINAL W, 2-0 Final Video Preview Box Score Recap Photos W, 2-1 Final - OT Video Video Preview Box Score Photos L, 3-2 Final Video Preview Box Score Recap Photos W, 4-2 Final Video Preview Box Score Recap Photos L, 2-1 Final Video Preview Box Score Recap Photos W, 4-2 Final Video Preview Box Score Recap Photos 7:00 PM Video Video Live stats 12:00 PM Live stats 12:00 PM Live stats Alumnae Weekend 12:00 PM Video Video Live stats 2:00 PM Video 12:00 PM Video Video Live stats 2:00 PM Video Live stats 12:00 PM Live stats 12:00 PM Live stats 2:00 PM Live stats Senior Day 1:00 PM Video Live stats

Home games in bold. * = Conference games

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WE NEED YOUR UPDATED INFORMATION! Please help us by keeping your contact information current so that we can continue communicating with you about Yale Field Hockey news and events! Two easy ways to keep your contact information up to date:

PREFERRED METHOD: YALE ALUMNI DIRECTORY 1. Go to http://www.aya.yale.edu/ 2. Look for the blue Directory box on the right side and log in. If you forgot your username/password, please follow the links. If you have never registered online with the Yale Alumni Database, please take the time to register and create a username and password.

3. Once you are logged in, click “Online Alumni Directory” in the left column.

4. Click “View/Update Your Alumni Directory Listing.”

5. From here, you will be able to update your contact information as well as any other information you would like to provide.

check us out on...

SECONDARY METHOD: INFORMING YFH ASSOCIATION If you are unable to use the Yale Alumni Directory online, please email or call: Taylor Sankovich ’12 taylor.a.sankovich@gmail.com 201-213-4986

Erin Carter ’12 erinmcarter15@gmail.com 484-686-6321

Alison Rotondo ’09 alison.rotondo@gmail.com 252-414-1344

AT T E N D | E A R N | R E D E E M Facebook: Yale Field Hockey Twitter: @YaleFieldHockey Instagram: @yalefieldhockey

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