By J.T. Mitchell
Staff Writer
On Saturday afternoon at Puett Field, the Sewanee field hockey team fell to No. 14 Centre College 6-0 on Senior Day.
The Colonels wasted no time as it only took two minutes for Megan Coomes to net the game’s first goal. 10 minutes later, Savannah Elpers scored to make it 2-0. Elpers didn’t stop there, though, as she went on to score the game’s next two goals, giving her team a 4-0 halftime lead. It was Elpers’ second hat trick of the season.
The Sewanee defense came out of the locker-room strong, in large part due to a huge save from Barbara Canty (C’22), holding the Colonels to a scoreless third quarter. Unfortunately, the fourth quarter was a much different story. The Colonels scored within the first minute to extend their lead to five.
The final goal of the game came just ten minutes later, capping off the Colonels’ 6-0 victory and securing their second Southern Athletic Association (SAA) regular-season title in a row.
Even though the game didn’t pan out how the Tigers wanted, the day was nonetheless a wonderful celebration of the team’s four seniors—Hannah Bradley, Ceara Caffrey, Eliza Griffin, and Jo Jo Young.
Caffrey, a 2018 All-SAA first-teamer and 2019 NFHCA Senior Game selectee, raved about being a member of the Sewanee Tigers field hockey program for the last four years.
“Playing field hockey at Sewanee has been such a privilege,” Caffrey said. “I have met some of my best friends through the program, and it has been so wonderful to represent the University on the field.”
Caffrey and the rest of the seniors may have played their last home game, yet the group still has a chance to make an impact in the postseason. Up next is the SAA Tournament, and they are more than ready to turn this ship around against Transylvania University.
“The mindset behind the team is that we can win,” Caffrey continued. “I think we need to remember that while we did lose to them in conference, we beat them the following game.”
Catch the Tigers (5-10, 1-3) on Friday, November 8 at 1:00 p.m. EST in Lexington, KY.