Field Hockey Returns to the Field

By Dorian Alerte | Published by April 9, 2021

As spring begins, so will the season of the Kean field hockey team.

After much anticipation from the team and coaches, on Feb. 24 the NJAC officially announced the return of field hockey for a shortened season that began on March 9.

This shortened season consists of eight regular season games, in a round robin format against conference opponents. Following the regular season, the five participating teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament for the league championship.

The field hockey team returned to campus in January of the spring semester in order to prepare for this upcoming season.

“Practices this spring have been fantastic,” Lafronz said. “Everyone is so excited to play and just be together again. The team is young but very talented. We are just really eager to compete again.”

Much like the rest of fall sports, the offseason for the field hockey team was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Last spring, we were never able to practice together as a team,” head coach Leslie LaFronz said. “I just told our players to stay positive, follow all safety protocols, try to be safe and healthy and that we needed to keep training and to be ready for when we would be able to be together again.”

When the fall semester started, the team was still not playing, but they participated in the strength and conditioning sessions that were held for Kean athletes with coach Graff.

“It was definitely getting back into our routine,” junior defender Mia Hernandez said. “We didn’t just jump right into everything. We were taking it a day at a time. The fact that we were able to practice was just a blessing in itself.”

Due to the restrictions during the fall, a majority of the practices were held to working out in small, socially distanced pods and individual skills.

“We couldn’t really do anything contact-wise,” junior forward Ja’Carra Jackson said. “It was really drill and skills based. It was kind of frustrating at times because we wanted to do more, but we couldn’t with all of the protocols.”

The competition in the NJAC has changed since the last time any field hockey team took the field, but that excites Jackson. When last seen, the team had a record of 19-4 and advanced into the third round of the NJAC tournament.

“I’m honestly excited just to play again,” Jackson said. “It’s been over a year since we’ve played a real game. We don’t know what the competition is anymore. You could say you know a team, but you really don’t. People stayed and people left so you really don’t know.

Hernandez shares the same level of excitement as both her coach and teammates.

“I’m looking forward to some competition,” Hernandez said. We have a name to represent and we just need to keep it up. I 100% believe our team is just as good as we were two years ago and we’re ready to go out there. I’m looking forward to playing and being able to play against the teams and have that competitiveness between us– we’re ready.”

---