Field hockey at Eastern Mennonite University has had its share of ups and downs over the last few years. The team followed a 1–17 season last year with hiring a new head coach, former Assistant Coach Sydney Metz to take over the team. With the changes, challenges will follow, but after a one-win season, the EMU Royals can only go up. The Royals schedule has several places where they can pick up wins, but the season has started off rough with three losses. The Royals started off with a great performance against the Cedar Crest College Falcons with the Royals losing 1-0.
Emma Huante, a first-year goalkeeper out of Woodbridge, Virginia, had six saves and one goal let in; she had a great first game as a Royal. When asked about how the game went, Emma Huante said, “I think we pushed ourselves, we only had one or two subs today and we really left it all out on the field. And I’m really proud of our playing style. We didn’t have any scrimmages, there was only so much prep we had. We left it all out there and one goal is not gonna kill us and we’re ready for the next one.”
The team followed the 1–0 loss with a trip to Baltimore for a Wednesday evening game against the Goucher Gophers. While the Royals scored a goal by forward Jada Gibson, a first-year out of Fairfax, Virginia, EMU lost 3–1. The Royals returned to Harrisonburg disappointed but ready to play on. This past Saturday saw the Royals back in action with a home game against Oberlin College. The first half saw four goals get past the Royals as the defense collapsed, but as the game progressed the defense improved significantly, not letting in a single goal in the second half. Emma Huante now has a total of 25 saves this far in the season, nine of them in the Oberlin game while allowing eight goals in three games. The game was stopped with a few minutes left due to lightning strikes in the area.
The EMU Field Hockey team will face Washington and Jefferson College Sunday at 1:00 p.m., and Tuesday the Royals will head north to play the winless Juniata College Eagles at 4:00 p.m. in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Conference play for the Royals in the ODAC will not start until October, so the new coaching staff has time to prepare for their conference foes.
