When first-year striker Mia Woodard found the back of the cage, she brought the crowd to its feet.
“I saw the ball across the cage and I just dove and slapped it as far as I could,” Woodard said. “When I looked up and saw it, I immediately just hugged my teammates. I was screaming, I was so happy and I was honestly in shock.”
Her first collegiate goal solidified the Ithaca College field hockey team’s 3-1 victory over St. John Fisher University on Sept. 1, and she is not the only one to reach that milestone. As of Sept. 18, five Bombers, including Woodard, have etched their names in the score sheet for the first time in their collegiate careers.
Besides the five first-timers, the Bombers have had 11 different goal-scorers within their first seven games. Last season, the team had nine goal-scorers throughout its 22-game season.
Sophomore midfielder Abby Hennessy, who transferred into the team after playing her first year at Wagner College, is among those first-time goal-scorers. She has appeared in all of the Bombers’ first seven games, already notching one goal against Fisher and another against Misericordia University on Sept. 4.
“We always talk about knowing your role on this team and working as hard as you can at that role,” Hennessy said. “Some of our roles might be only going in for five minutes, but working as hard as you can for that five minutes and possibly scoring a goal is such a possibility on this team because we all have that work ethic.”
Head coach Kaitlyn Wahila’s substitution rotation has allowed every player on the roster to appear in at least one game so far. Many of her offensive players are only on the field for a few minutes at a time before subbing off for a break.
“We like to sub our strikers and [midfielders] a lot,” Wahila said. “We expect a lot out of them on the defensive side of the ball, and specifically when we press it starts with our strikers. If our strikers don’t have fresh legs, you’re going to be able to tell.”
Woodard said her own contributions and those of the other younger athletes can be attributed to the trust and confidence instilled by the coaching staff and more experienced players. At any moment, Woodard said she knows she could be the next player up.
“I know that when any one of us subs into the game, we’re going to put 100% effort and make our time valuable for the team,” Woodard said. “We support each other and we always celebrate when someone scores or makes an awesome play.”
A wealth of experience comes from senior striker Natalie Descalso, who missed the team’s first three games while recovering from a knee injury. Descalso — who was named to the Liberty League and NCFHA First Teams in 2023 — said she had full confidence in her teammates to keep the standard of play at an elite level while she was on the sideline.
“My goal, obviously, was to be back for the first game,” Descalso said. “That didn’t happen, but that was OK because I knew that we had the depth. I wasn’t worried about that at all.”
Sophomore strikers Ainsley Grant and Toni Ierardi rotated through Descalso’s position in her absence. On Sept. 18, both Grant and Descalso scored goals in the Bombers’ 2-0 win over SUNY Brockport — it was the first goal of Grant’s collegiate career.
Wahila said that getting younger athletes like Grant, Woodard and Hennessy into the game’s rotation, even for a short period of time, is what ensures the program’s longevity.
“There are some younger kids who are getting minutes and I think that’s really important for the future of our program — even if it is only five or 10 minutes in a game,” Wahila said. “The fact that a first-year or sophomore could be getting in, that’s why [our seniors] are so good. They earned experience as first-years and sophomores, and now that experience is very much shining.”
Besides Hennessy, the team also welcomed two other Division I transfers to the program. Ierardi played her first year at Merrimack College and sophomore goalkeeper Maeve Clark played at Monmouth University for one year. Wahila said the trio’s experience at the Division I level is another contributing factor to the team’s depth.
“I give [the transfers] a ton of credit for being able to step into our system and mesh right away,” Wahila said. “Specifically, Toni had to learn our three different presses and [Hennessy] is in the center of the field in a really critical position as well. Maeve didn’t see any game situations last season, so the fact that she’s been able to get minutes with us is really impressive.”
Hennessy said her transition from Wagner to South Hill taught her more about herself as an athlete and as a person. She said the Bombers’ supportive environment helped her find what she needed to be successful on the field.
“The biggest lesson it taught me is to lean on your teammates,” Hennessy said. “Being able to have great teammates to support you and — especially being part of this team — our main focus is being a great teammate. Recognizing how I needed to be supported is helping me to support other people as well.”
With more than half of the regular season remaining and three ranked opponents ahead, the Bombers need all hands on deck to fight for a conference title and repeat their playoff berth. As the team continues to grow and more athletes find opportunities, Descalso said the team should have no problem making a statement.
“All of our younger athletes really just worked their butt off and proved that they deserve to play just as much as anyone else,” Descalso said. “I’m just really looking forward to seeing them grow into their confidence and get more comfortable in our presses. I think they’ve done a great job of that already, but I just can’t wait to see how much they grow.”
