Coaches and asst coaches are being hired, athletes are preparing for a challenging preseason, fields are being prepared, clinics are executed, travel is arranged and schedules are finalized. But there is one area most participants forget about and that is umpire preparation.
The game is not possible without competent well trained umpires.The speed and wide ranging movement of the game demands fitness, as much as a deep understanding of the rules and skills of the players. There is a constant need for replacement, as older umpires retire. Recruitment and training is a key ingredient for a successful and safe experience for fans and athletes alike.
Sean Rapapport was recently appointed Head of Umpires for US Field Hockey and he gave a presentation to the Board of US Field Hockey describing his efforts on recruiting and training of umpires. He also described some points of concern he has as the sport expands.
In general he was pleased with the available talent and recently he used some of the more senior players at the Nexus tournament as umpires in the younger divisions. He was extraordinarily pleased with their performance and was encouraged with the hope when many of the athletes finish their playing careers, perhaps they might choose umpiring to stay connected to the game.
Officials attention on skills
He got into details on the use of certain skills and potential issues. As an experiment at Nexus, he took a random collection of 10 under 16 athletes and had the group execute a reverse stick. Remarkably, 8 out of the 10 would have been guilty of a back stick violation. He demonstrated using film show how an umpire can detect the back stick violation, confirming it with how the ball bounces after striking the stick.
It is that kind of detail which is included in the training of a new official, and a caution to coaches and players to execute skills according to the rules.
It is one of the many elements for a successful experience for fans, athletes and coaches, that umpires are prepared. Let the games begin!
The long wait is over and as I write this the schedule is published and allows us to plan our “field hockey treks” for this fall. The first competition is less than a month away and as I assess the schedule there will be some exciting hockey this fall with interesting and challenging opponents. The exhibition schedule opens at the beach on Aug 15 against a good Monmouth squad. Monmouth in recent years has changed conferences and their schedule has been beefed up in the process. They are a quick team that relies a lot on the fast break and will be a great preseason challenge for our rebuilding defense. Just 3 days later the challenges don’t get any easier as the Leopards host the Blue Hens of Delaware. They are always a tough opponent who will test our offense.
After that early preparation, Wagner comes to Rappolt Field a week later for the opening game of the season at night under the lights at 7pm. It will be time for the Buckeyes of Ohio State at our field that following Sunday at 3:30. We are the second game for Ohio State in the Valley as they will be playing Lehigh Friday afternoon. It will be interesting to see the comparative scores. I plan to attend both games.
The road beckons again on Friday the 1st of Sept as the Leopards will travel to Vermont for a first ever game with this team. They have a new field and are celebrating with a 12 game home schedule. The New England Labor Day weekend swing ends on Sunday with UMass at Amherst.
Spanns flies through the Crusader defense
The Schedule doesn’t get any easier as Friday will mark the ACC’s Syracuse University Orange return to Lafayette for a 6 pm game. Sunday the 10th it’ll be a trip to the BIG APPLE and the Columbia Lions who have been improving in the Ivy League.
The Patriot League opener arrives on our home field on Friday at 7pm as the Bison of Bucknell show up. This is a game the team should be looking forward to and the Leopards will look to avenge the one goal loss last year. This is always a competitive match and this year will be no exception. A win for either team launches the pathway to the post season and a trip the NCAA’s. Four wins against Patriot League opponents will be needed to make the League tournament. The regular season league winner will host.
We will catch our breath and get ready for 1pm Sunday and Fairfied ,who actually was a Patriot League member a decade ago. The first Saturday game for the Leopards will be against American in DC, home to many Field Hockey alums. The noon time game as always will be key to title hopes and hopes to host the PL tournament. The Leopards lost by one goal in overtime last year!!
Leneke Spanns speeds through the Terrier defense
The Patriot League will again be on our mind as Holy Cross comes to town the following Saturday at noon. The Crusaders always seems to get up for the Leopards!!
The Patriot League challenge continues the following Saturday, October 7 with Colgate. By the end of the game we should be able to plot our post season chances and what might be needed to be done to get there.
Twenty five hours later Drexel arrives as the Leopards will try avenge the one goals loss from last year. It’ll be back on the bus as our heroes make a second trip to New England, first meeting League rival Boston University who will want to avenge their 2 goal loss in Easton last year. They will playing on their resurfaced field.
The Leopards will stay in New England and after an overnight rest will meet the next challenge, the Provdence Friars at 1 pm. The last game with them ended in a loss, so this could be a very competitive game.
The schedule again switches to a Friday night game at 6:30 with Towson on the home turf to be shortly followed by a noon away game with Quinnipiac in Hamden CT. They will be under new coaching this season!!
Lineke Spanns loses the goalie on the way to a score
The Patriot League regular season ends appropriately with Lehigh at Lehigh. Lehigh has consecutive victories of late and this game regardless of the records, holds drama for each team. Lehigh will be the defending League champion. It will be a key contest in any case. It is a Oct 27 7 pm start that no doubt could define the season!
The regular season ends with a home game with Temple on Sunday at noon, hopefully with both teams looking at a post season! The PL tournament is Thursday November 2 and Saturday November 4th at the site of the regular season champion.
Schedules are crafted to fufill specific aims. Coaches first must fill their league commitments, but they are also constructed with an eye to the playoffs, preparing for league games, recruiting, and alumni support. League demands are first and you can imagine the differences, depending on the size and geographical scope of the league. Most schools will look to fitting in conference games first and structure an out of conference schedule that fits travel demands with an eye to RPIs.
A conference like the Big Ten, NEC, Ivy and the Patriot League will fill dates right away with mandatory games of 9, 8 or 7 dates, before filling in the out of conference games. Coaches will keep in mind travel budgets and time away from campuses. Some coaches will avoid weekday games and missing classes. Others, in divergent geographical conferences will bunch out of conference games in regions they will be traveling.
Many large schools will not play Saturday games on the same day their football home games are played. ( one team shamefully years ago cut short a field hockey game that went to overtime because a football game in the adjacent stadium was about to begin pregame festivities).
Josephine van Wyck defends
The Ivy League this year, for the first time will have a league tournament, but the price was to have teams cut one game from their schedule. Given the fact the Ivies will not allow any game before Sept 1 has always resulted in scheduling nightmares. Teams that normally had 18 games on the schedule now have 17, 16 and in one case 15 games. The result is that there are 16 less games in division one this year. The late start also means, as usual, some teams are forced to play on a weekday. Many teams like Lafayette try to avoid middle of the week travel. The Ivy League stance is inexplicable considering it would be more convenient, and less missed classes if early season games could be scheduled before classes started.
The trickier aspect is to get a schedule that could maximize a team’s RPI. Losing to a team with a lower RPI could be disastrous for the post season on those teams depending on an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Even a loss to a high ranked team may even help a ranking. Strength of schedule is a closely watched element for those post season slots.
Penn State’s Mackenzie Allessie (2) during the game with Lafayette. The No.5 Nittany Lions defeated Lafayette, 2-1 in double overtime at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex on Sunday afternoon Oct. 9, 2022.
Photo by Mark Selders
Finally, recruiting could be considered. Getting exposure in areas of strong high school interest in the sport could be factored in. An even bigger draw is if the roster has some local player on the squad.
Although Lafayette has not officially announced its schedule, it can be found on the League website. There’s a lot for fans to be excited about with early games at Lafayette with Big Ten and ACC teams traveling to Easton. There is an away game with an Ivy school and some Big East and CAA schools to add excitement. We cannot forget the annual game at Lehigh who won the PL last year.
The winner of the PL tournament goes to the NCAA’s and the seeding will depend on how well that team did and strength of the schedule. Once the schedule is announced alumni in the area should be alerted so they can see their school in action. Games in New England, Washington, and New York City always draw alumni interest. As usual ESPN plus will be carrying Lafayette games with some OTC games on other streaming platforms.
Only four weeks to go before preseason and teams will begin practice. The first preseason scrimmage is Aug 15!!!
Lafayette College Field Hockey 