{"id":158465,"date":"2023-11-10T13:44:58","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T18:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=158465"},"modified":"2023-11-21T09:55:23","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T14:55:23","slug":"12-new-catfacts-field-hockeys-amazing-historic-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2023\/11\/10\/12-new-catfacts-field-hockeys-amazing-historic-season\/","title":{"rendered":"12 new CatFacts: Field hockey’s amazing, historic season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fifty-six years after its founding as Bates’ first varsity sport for women, the Bobcat field hockey team is having one of the best seasons in program history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, the No. 7 nationally ranked Bobcats shut out Johnson & Wales, 7\u20130, in the first round of the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With the victory \u2014 the Bobcats’ first NCAA tourney win \u2014 the team is now 13-5 and has matched the 1975 team for the most wins in a season in program history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bates faces No. 2 Babson College in the second round<\/a> of the tournament at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11, at Babson Park, Mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For folks who’ve just climbed aboard the Bobcat bandwagon, here are 12 CatFacts about the 2023 Bates field hockey program, team, and players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Bates field hockey team poses for a photo after its 7-0 victory over Johnson & Wales in the first round of the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship. (Tia Day\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
1. Two of the team’s top players grew up near campus \u2014 and are sisters<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Hailing from across the Androscoggin River in Auburn, sisters Anna Cote, a junior, and Paige Cote, a fifth-year senior, are the team scoring leaders, netting a third of the team\u2019s goals this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being local means that “our whole family can come to all our games,\u201d Anna said. \u201cIt’s really such an exciting time in our lives.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hailing from across the Androscoggin River in Auburn are sisters Anna Cote and Paige Cote. (Brewster Burns for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
2. There\u2019s a chemistry professor on the Bates team<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Varsity teams have faculty liaisons who partner with the team to support the students’ curricular and co-curricular pursuits. Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Colleen O\u2019Loughlin is field hockey\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She attends games and sends encouraging emails to the players. And with three biochemistry majors on the team and others taking science courses, O\u2019Loughlin \u2014 who played the sport in high school \u2014 has gotten to know a number of players as their professor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Bates has a speedy surface for a speedy team <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Because the Campus Avenue Field is dedicated almost exclusively to field hockey, Bates was able, in 2016, to install a sport-specific surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was GreenFields TX, and it was the first North American installation to employ GreenFields\u2019 proprietary TenCate Ecocept elastic layer \u2014 a shock-absorbing layer that underlies the faux grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, Bates has gone 39-17 at home, including a perfect 9-0 record this season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s smooth, forgiving to athletes\u2019 bodies, and fast, really fast, which suits the Bobcats\u2019 style. \u201cIt’s almost like between turf and a gym floor,\u201d says Ella Blum \u201924 of South Salem, N.Y. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Field hockey is Bates’ oldest women\u2019s varsity sport <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Field hockey earned varsity status in 1967, winning the first 21 games the team played from 1967 to 1970. That\u2019s the longest winning streak in program history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Mirror<\/em> shows field hockey action from the Bates team\u2019s inaugural varsity season, in which Bates defeated the University of Maine\u2013Farmington; Gorham State College, now part of the University of Southern Maine; Westbrook College (twice), now part of the University of New England; Colby; and the University of Maine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
5. Field hockey at Bates was first played in 1905 <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Decades before field hockey was a varsity sport, it debuted as an intramural sport between the classes as part of the Young Women\u2019s Athletic Association, formed in fall 1905.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Field hockey, the Bates Student<\/em> explained, \u201cis played with field hockey sticks, which are heavier than those for ice hockey, and a cricket ball, painted either white or red. It is a game which involves much running and is both scientific and interesting when well played.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Penalty corners galore!<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

When the defense commits a foul near their goal, the offense is awarded what\u2019s called a penalty corner. The other team can only have four players and a goalie in a certain defensive area, but the offense can have more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It gives the offense the chance to run all sorts of fun plays, and Bates has had a lot of fun and success this year with penalty corners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bates regularly \u201cedits\u201d their corner plays so \u201cwe stay unscoutable,\u201d says head coach Dani Kogut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd that really comes from the student-athletes. They’re always coming up with creative ideas of how to change a corner, how to change a lineup so that we can do what we want to do without giving away (what we\u2019re doing on) our corner.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Music soothes the Bobcat<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no surprise that popular artists such as Taylor Swift and Zach Bryan frequent these player\u2019s playlists. From country to pop, here are some artists that the team are listening to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n