by The Cowl Editor on October 24, 2019
Friar Sports
By Joseph Quirk ’23
Sports Staff
Last Monday brought some good news for the Providence College Field Hockey Team. Fresh off a big 4-1 win over the University of New Hampshire, the Friars learned one of their own, Mary O’Reilly ’20, was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll.
The senior midfielder, who was also named to the All-Big East second team in 2018, is having a great season. She currently has 3 goals and 6 assists, and has been a big reason the team is having an incredibly successful 2019 campaign. However, this was not the biggest news for the Friars this past week.
The next day, it was announced that the PC field hockey team had broken into the national rankings for the first time this season, ranking 25th in the nation. This is an incredible accomplishment for the Friars, as they have put together an incredible season on the backs of Izzy Mendez ’20, Allyson Parker ’20, and Maddie Babineau ’21 just to name a few.
The team is in the midst of an incredible year in which they have demonstrated numerous times that they are capable of going toe-to-toe with some of the best programs in the country. Four of the Friar’s five losses this season were to ranked teams and the biggest margin of defeat was a three-goal deficit that came at the hands of no. 3 ranked University of Connecticut. Otherwise, PC has been winning pretty handily and even beat University of Maine, ranked no. 24 at the time.
The Friars, however, are not the only team representing the Big East in the national rankings. They are joined by Old Dominion University, Liberty University, and UConn. All three schools are currently ahead of the Friars in the Big East conference rankings as well.
While the team has struggled a bit against ranked competition this season, they have been dominant against everyone else they have played, including two recent wins against Quinnipiac University in a shootout and Merrimack College.
The Friars beat Quinnipiac in thrilling fashion at home last Friday. A goal was scored in the first quarter by Mendez and assisted by Niamh Gowing ’22, putting the Friars up early. However, Quinnipiac would rattle off two straight goals in the second and fourth quarters putting them up one. That was when Parker scored off a penalty stroke, sending the game to overtime. Parker would also score the game winning goal in the shootout.
The Friars followed that up with another home rout of Merrimack. The Friars scored goals in every quarter, including a two-goal third quarter. Merrimack only managed to score one goal in the third. Sydney Cramer ’21 opened scoring for the Friars, followed by Babineau, Lisa McNamara ’23 and two by Olivia Ward ’21.
The wins pushed the Friars record to 10-5 overall and 3-2 in the Big East. The Friars are also now 7-3 at home.
Next up for PC is a Big East matchup against Georgetown University at home this Friday. PC will look to not only better their conference record but also continue a three game win streak and stay ranked within the top 25.