Colwell’s Court: Princess Sutherland — Field Hockey

This past weekend, the Hopkins women’s field hockey team faced the University of Rochester on Saturday and St. John Fisher College the following day.

Although the match against St. John Fisher ended in a disappointing 4-1 loss, the Jays prevailed in Saturday’s game, sending Rochester home with their first loss of the season.

Throughout the weekend, the Jays undoubtedly saw a variety of strong performances, but this week’s Athlete of the Week was an easy choice: After scoring the only goal of the game on Saturday, senior Princess Sutherland deserves this week’s title.

Sutherland is no newcomer to athletic excellence. Through her three seasons on the Hopkins field hockey team, she has consistently performed when it mattered the most. Her game-winning goal on Saturday was the sixth of her career.

Beyond her physical prowess, Sutherland is known for her presence and the spirit she brings to her team on a daily basis.

“Princess is the epitome of perseverance,” senior teammate Clare Kavanagh said. “On game day and throughout her college career, Princess gets onto the field and does her work. She has patience when she possesses the ball, and she capitalizes on her opportunities. Her hits are consistently some of the hardest on the team, and defenders always pay if they give her an extra half second to rip a shot on the cage.”

Following her game-winning performance, Sutherland was kind enough to sit down with The News-Letter to discuss the team and upcoming goals for her final season.

N-L: What has the team dynamic been like so far this year?

Princess Sutherland: The team’s dynamic has been amazing so far. It has been great working hard in such a positive atmosphere with our new coaches. We really focused on the basics and perfecting those fundamental skills during preseason, keeping our playing style simple.

This has proven to be very effective in the games we have played, especially with the freshmen who have adjusted well to the high intensity of college hockey and have performed well in both practices and games.

As a senior, I am very proud of all our team has accomplished so far this season, and I am looking forward to the rest of our season.

N-L: How did it feel to score the game-winning goal in the game against Rochester?

PS: I was ecstatic to score the goal against Rochester because I had been practicing my shot on corners during every practice, focusing on the execution of the shot, keeping it low and to the far corners of the goal out of the goalie’s reach.

I have never scored off a straight shot on a corner throughout my whole field hockey career, so I was very happy to have accomplished this.

I am proud of how many opportunities the team created against No. 14 Rochester and how much grit we showed on the field. You can truly tell how passionate we all are about representing Hopkins well and giving our all out there on the field.

N-L: After Saturday’s game, how difficult was it to play again on Sunday against St. John Fisher?

PS: Although our legs may have been a bit tired from a tough game against Rochester, I honestly think we played very well against them.

We brought a lot of intensity coming from behind to tie the game 1-1 in the second half. I think the only problem was some miscommunication in about the last seven minutes of the game. From my perspective, the score definitely did not reflect how well we battled St. John Fisher.

We can certainly learn from our mistakes throughout the game and from the breakdown in the end. This was only our fourth game of the season, and we are confident in our abilities to do well in the future.

N-L: What is the team looking to improve upon before your next game this coming Friday?

PS: We definitely want to work on our defensive positioning and communication across all the positions. We also want to keep up the intensity and improve on winning more 50/50 balls.

Finally, we want to capitalize on more opportunities we create in the circle and draw more offensive corners. Our focus is one game at a time, one minute at a time, one play at a time.

N-L: What are your personal goals for the remainder of the season?

PS: Personally, I want to consistently execute well under pressure on corners, and I would like to finish on opportunities we create in the circle. In addition, I want to focus on strong-paced flat passes to my teammates into space, so we can beat defenders easily with that off-ball movement.