BY DANIEL FRIEL

In print | Published November 6, 2008

Despite two valiant efforts, the Swarthmore field hockey team dropped two conference matches in its last two games of the season, losing at home to Haverford on Wednesday by a score of 4-3, and falling to Franklin and Marshall in an away game on Saturday by a score of 4-2.

Even after holding onto a 1-0 lead early in the second half on Wednesday, the Garnet was unable to come out on top of a scoring frenzy in the final half hour of the game. Within three minutes of Joslyn Young ’10’s initial goal, each team added another tally. Haverford bounced back to tie the game at 1-1, only to have Sarah Reynolds ’09 retake the lead for Swarthmore at 2-1.

After a pair of consecutive Haverford goals to bring the score to 3-2 in favor of the Fords, Hadley Roach ’11 tied up the match again at three apiece in the 61st minute, but it was not enough as Haverford first-year Roxanne Jaffe scored what would turn out to be the game-winner three minutes later. The Fords broke even on the season with the win, finishing at 9-9 (5-5 CC). Goalkeeper Gina Grubb ’10 notched 17 saves in the loss for the Garnet.

Against Franklin and Marshall in the season finale on Saturday, the Garnet was unable to overcome a 2-1 deficit at halftime despite out-shooting the F&M in the second half. Natalie Stone ’09 tied the game at 1-1 in the 16th minute after connecting on a pass from Devon Novotnak ’11. The tally, her 9th, makes Stone Swarthmore’s leading scorer on the season. Young has the second most goals on the team, with 7 marks to her credit.

Co-captain Ashley Gunter ’09, who was given All-Centennial Conference second-team honors this year, added a goal off of a penalty stroke in the middle of the second half, but it was not enough as the Diplomats scored twice in the second half to clinch the victory. F&M ends the season at 6-11 (3-7 CC).

Grubb tallied 5 saves in goal against the Diplomats, bringing her total to 113 saves this season. Katie Ashmore ’11 finishes the season with 48 saves.

After a series of tough losses, the Garnet finishes the season with a record of 5-13, standing at 1-9 in Centennial Conference play. Yet despite the statistics, the season is not completely devoid of positive memories for the women.

Jordan Schmidt ’09 looks back on her time on the team with fondness. “The thing I will miss most is the closeness of the team, especially the five seniors. Our class has an awesome relationship, and I couldn’t have imagined being on the team without them,” she said. “I don’t think we’ll ever lose touch with each other.”

Gunter recalls beating Johns Hopkins 3-2 in double overtime off of a penalty corner stroke in her sophomore year as a standout moment in her career on the team. Hopkins was ranked #19 at the time. Of the 2008 season, she said that “our record doesn’t reflect the amount of fun we had together. It was hard transitioning to a new coach, but we learned so much from [first-year head coach] Lauren [Fuchs] and really grew as a team.”

Aside from Gunter, Schmidt, and Stone, the Garnet will also lose co-captains Anna Baeth ’09 and Sarah Reynolds ’09 to graduation this year, leaving only 10 players on the roster. Fuchs’s ability to revitalize the program will be put to the test next year, when the squad will rely heavily on incoming freshmen.

Grubb calls the transition “bittersweet,” saying that “I am really looking forward to getting new recruits and having fresh players on our team,” despite losing five this year. She, too, has faith in Fuchs, hoping that the team will continue to “improve as players under Lauren’s guidance.”

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