2007 Season Preview

For Immediate Release:
Aug. 31, 2007

RICHMOND, Ind. — Earlham College Head Field Hockey Coach Jill Butcher has an optimistic outlook as she approaches her season with the Quakers.

There are seven returning players with the same number of new names on the roster. “They’ve all been working hard and we’re been making progress, but losing five players who went abroad means that 50 percent of the team is new this year,” Butcher said.

Butcher expects sophomore forward Cassie Gage (West Carrollton, OH/Kettering Fairmont), senior midfielder Liz Buehler (Hartland, WI/Arrowhead) and sophomore Nicole VanSkyoc (Kettering, OH/Kettering Fairmont) to led the offense. “I anticipate good things from Cassie, especially scoring in the circle,” Butcher said. “Nicole and Liz are outstanding midfielders. They’re going to add a lot more to our attack.”

Gage was the second-leading scorer on last year’s squad that finished 2-15 with six goals and three assists. Buehler was third adding a pair of goals and six assists.

Also helping with the attack will be senior Anna Benfield (Takoma Park, MD/Montgomery Blair). “She is tenacious in the circle she will do anything possible to help us score a goal,” Butcher said.

Butcher sees some improvement on defense as well as with junior goalie Katherine McDonough (Louisville, KY/St. Francis). “We are better than we were last year defensively, but we’re running into the same problem in that there isn’t any depth,” she said. “Kat is awesome in goal, but I just hope she doesn’t see as many shots as she has in the past.”

Other returning players expected to contribute are junior Anna Tybinko (Philadelphia, PA/Germantown Friends) and sophomore Katharine Putney (Chapel Hill, NC/Chapel Hill). The new members of the team are junior Chelsea Ferrell (Bridgetown, DE/Woodbridge), junior Jill Karno (Plainville, CT/Plainville), sophomore Leah Pope (DesMoines, IA/Theodore Roosevelt), first-year Chrissy Sollenbergger (Annville, PA/Annville Cleona), first-year Liz Burman (Arlington, VA/Washington & Lee), first-year Zipporah Burns (Beachwood, OH/Orange) and first-year Ashley Hazen (Malvern, PA/Westtown). 

For the third year in a row, the Quakers are opening the season on the road. Earlham faces Transylvania University on Sept. 1. “It allows us to play away from our home crowd and not be nervous,” Butcher said. “In addition to that, it is also a way for me to measure what level our team is playing at because I know what type of program Transylvania has.”

The Quakers begin play in the North Coast Athletic Conference one week into the season at Kenyon College on Friday, Sept. 7. “Because we play a double round robin, we’re locked into a pretty tight schedule,” Butcher said.

—EC —

Contact:
Don Tincher, sports information director
765/983-1795— E-Mail Don