Every great season has to end. Although an end that comes sooner than planned is unfortunate, nobody can disagree with the fact that the field hockey team had an outstanding year. Ending the season in the first round of the Big East tournament against No. 2 seed Providence, they finished with a 13-8 record, and four players earned Big East honors.

“We were all really excited to be going to the Big East tournament,” senior Alex Whalen said. “There are a lot of great teams in the Big East, so it’s really an honor to go. Even though we have gone for the past four years that we have been here, we know that it’s never a given for us to go to the tournament, and we have to work hard each year to get there.”

The Big East Championship’s first round opened with an intense showing by the Providence Friars. After getting on the board in the ninth minute of the game, the Friars were able to put up another goal to take a 2-0 lead. The Wildcats were able to score their first goal as sophomore Sam Coveleski scored her first goal of the season off a deflected shot by junior Stephanie Campbell.

“We were having a hard time penetrating their zone defense,” Whalen said. “We were not capitalizing on all of our opportunities, and our defensive breakdowns really hurt us.”

Five minutes into the second half, the Friars scored yet another goal, making the score 3-1. Sophomore Allison Boris scored her 14th goal of the season off an assist from senior Megan Foster, limiting the Friars’ lead to only one goal. Less than three minutes later, however, the Friars answered the Wildcats and increased the score to 4-2.

“Providence got an early lead, so we were battling back from the beginning,” senior Lauren Campanelli said. “We needed to get a lot of shots on goal, but each time we scored they counterattacked with another goal of their own. We needed to take advantage of the opportunities we had inside our offensive 25, and we didn’t do that as well as we would have liked.”

The Providence Friars only outshot the Wildcats 13-12 and advanced to the championship round to face Connecticut, where they lost 4-3.

There were many successes in the Wildcat season, including four players named with Big East honors. Foster was named to the Big East First Team. Foster set records this season in points and goals scored in a career. She set a new high for goals in a game when she scored five goals against Lehigh. This season, Foster scored 25 goals, dished out 12 assists and scored seven game-winning goals, all of which were team highs. Foster will also participate in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-Star game at Wake Forest on Nov. 18.

Campanelli was honored on the Big East Second Team. She set the school record for assists in a career with 36 and tallied 10 assists and three goals. Campanelli will be joining Foster at the NFHCA All-Star game.

Campbell was also honored on the Big East Second Team, starting all 20 games this season and scoring three goals with eight assists.

Boris also made the Big East Second Team. She started all 20 games and was second on the team with 13 goals. She also totaled nine assists, which was good for second on the team.