The Rowan University field hockey team took down Cabrini University on their own turf Friday, Sept. 26, with the Profs on top 5-2 when the clock hit double zeroes.
It was a tight game throughout the first period with the Profs leading 2-1 to start the second. Sophomore Julia Patrone scored the second go-ahead goal for Rowan to put them up going into halftime.
“It was nice,” Patrone said. “It was our go-ahead goal, it was really that extra ‘umph,’ so we were ahead by two at that point. We really needed that honestly because it gave us a lead that we needed.”
For the rest of the game, the team cruised passed Cabrini with only allowing one goal compared to their two in the second half to grab the 5-2 victory.
The Profs went to this game with an undefeated record of 7-0 and earned their eighth win. Head Coach Michelle Andre knew it was going to be a close and a hard-fought battle to improve the Profs’ record.
“We knew it was going to be that kind of game and knew what we wanted to do and this team knows what they want to do,” Coach Andre said. “They are a special group of girls.”
This team is a group on a mission to not only to win the New Jersey College Athletic Championship (NJAC), but to go back to NCAA Division lll Final Four and take home the championship on their home turf.
Graduate student and Captain Kristiina Castagnola credit the team’s two sayings to help keep them motivated through the season.
“If you ever notice on how our Instagram our hashtags are StrongerTogether and KeepitMovin,“ Castagnola said. “And we are like alright on to the next one but we focus one day at a time. So definitely just looking ahead to the next game.”
The sayings are only a small part of the Prof’s motivation towards the successes they have already had this season and the many more to come soon.
Another motivator is the Final Four rings the 2021 team received during the Rowan football game on Saturday, Sept. 24. The girls’ hard work was shown off to everyone as they got their rings in front of a packed crowd at Coach Richard Wacker Stadium during halftime.
Coach Andre gave great advice to her team on how to celebrate winning at a high level and at the same time focus on their next opponent.
“I think we spend so much time on the losses,” Coach Andre said. “They gut you, we get to celebrate the really good things and I am glad that we get to do that. We take this one at a time.”
The girls know to take everything one day at a time and to celebrate the really good things that they have accomplished as a team.
The Profs now have one more non-conference game on Wednesday, Sept. 28, in Glassboro at 7 p.m. Their first NJAC game will be on their home turf against rival The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) on Saturday, Oct. 1.
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