Abby Hainsworth, Rowan’s field hockey star goalie, is not only stacking on the wins during her final year at Rowan, but she’s also stacking up awards.
Last week, Hainsworth was named the National Defensive Player of the Week by the National Coaches Association (NFHCA) for the second time in her career. Much thanks to her dominant performance in the Profs win against the form nationally-ranked No. 2 Johns Hopkins University. She had ten saves and allowed one goal in the 2-1 victory.
Hainsworth, one of the captains on the squad, has been a key leader on this Profs team this year.
“She’s very calm,” Head Coach Michelle Andre said regarding Hainsworth. “She’s a really good communicator. She’ll say if somebody needs to be marked. She knows when to pick somebody up. She knows what to say… She’s good at reading the situation that’s in front of her and taking a piece of it and not making more than it needs to be.”
Hainsworth does her job on the field and she makes sure of that in order to win each game. It’s just one of the reasons why her teammates, like senior midfielder/back Rachel Stone, trust her in games and look up to her as a leader on this team.
“I just personally feel trusting with having her behind me on the field because she’s always talking to people, me included,” Stone said. “[She tells us] what to do and like that just really helps me feel better.”
Hainsworth’s teammates not only love playing with her but are extremely proud of her accomplishments, including her latest national award, which she describes how she found out about it.
“It was really an amazing feeling,” Hainsworth said. “So we actually found out after [playing] Stevens [Institute of Technology], we’re all eating dinner and we saw it on Instagram and it was just great to celebrate that moment with our team and realize that.”
The fact Hainsworth found out with her teammates that she was getting the award made the moment extra special for her, but after that moment of celebration, she knows it was time to get back to business for her team.
“So I think we’re always looking forward to the next game you know, whatever awards we get as a team to celebrate them,” Hainsworth said. “You know, I am happy that I get them but the team’s success is really what matters. So it’s easy for me to put them aside.”
Hainsworth proves that while she’s very thankful for the awards and is proud of her individual success, her number one goal is team success. This speaks volumes of what kind of leader she is [on and off the field] as she only wants the best for her team.
Rowan’s star goalie hopes to continue her strong senior campaign as the Profs hope to get their seventh win and stay undefeated while they travel to Glenside, Pennsylvania to take on Arcadia University on Wednesday, Sept. 21.
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