Andrea Greene’s Winning Ways

Andrea Greene vividly recalls the first time she saw BU. It was July 2009 and the field hockey star had traveled to Boston from her homeland of Chile to compete in the Junior World Cup, an international field hockey tournament. Greene and her teammates stayed on campus, and she was instantly taken with both the school and the city.

“When I first came here, I loved Boston,” says Greene (CAS’12), now a forward on the Terrier women’s field hockey team, currently ranked the 11th in the nation. “I loved the city, and all of the schools, and that is why I wanted to come to BU.”

While she was playing in the Junior World Cup tournament, Greene was introduced to Terrier field hockey head coach Sally Starr. Greene told Starr that she loved Boston and wanted to find a way to study here. Starr says she was immediately interested in adding Greene to her squad.

“When you have top-caliber players with international experience on your team, it raises the level of play for the entire team,” Starr says. “Really gifted hockey players like Andie help lead and teach the entire team.”

Greene transferred to BU this fall from the Universidad Diego Portales, in her hometown of Santiago. “I was looking at different schools, but after my time here for the tournament, I knew I wanted to come to BU,” she says. “The team is great, and the coaches are great, and I knew this is where I wanted to play.”

Boston clearly agrees with the 22-year-old. In her first 11 games, Greene has scored 16 points (7 goals and 2 assists), leading a talented Terrier squad. She was named the America East Player of the Week on August 30 and the University’s Student-Athlete of the Week on September 14.

“Andie brings our team a lot of experience,” says Starr. “She has a tremendous passion for the game, and she’s also a gifted athlete.”

Greene, who has played field hockey for over 15 years, brings more than an exceptional scoring ability to the Terrier team, currently tied for first place in the America East conference. Starr says that her experience playing on an international stage has also been invaluable to her new team.

“At practice, both Andie and Jucinda McLeod told us some anecdodal things about a skill we were working on,” Starr says. McLeod (CGS’11) is from New Zealand, an international power in the sport. “We were working on a highly technical part of individual defense, and Andie shared a story, and Jucinda shared something her national team coach teaches back home. New Zealand is one of the top teams in the world, and Andie’s Chilean program is very good as well, so our team was able to learn from some of the best coaches in the world.”

Greene shrugs off any discussion of her individual performance on the field, preferring to share credit for the team’s success this season with all the players. “There is a lot of talent on this team,” she says, “so we can work off of that really easily.”

Team captain and forward Allie Dolce (SAR’11) agrees. “As a team, we have a lot of respect for each other. Everyone shows their own leadership, takes care of themselves on the field, and shows respect for each other,” she says.

Greene points to the team’s ability to set goals for each game, not just for the entire season, as another reason for success on the field. “Each game, we set our own goals,” she says, “like how many shots on goal we get as a team, which is helpful.”

The star forward has a personal goal as well. “For me,” she says, “making it to the NCAA Tournament this season is the most important.”

For a student-athlete who loves her sport and her new university and city, Greene sees only one problem—the popularity of her beloved sport in the United States.

“I love being at BU, and being a foreigner at BU—it’s a great community,” she says. “But I wish more American players came out and played hockey, and I wish more people came out to our games and watched hockey.”

Greene catches herself, and looking over at Dolce, begins to giggle. “I mean field hockey, that is. The other is popular here too.”

You can see Andie Greene play tomorrow, October 9, when the BU women’s field hockey team hosts Fairfield University at 2 p.m. at MIT’s Jack Barry Field. Admission is free.

Kat Hasenauer Cornetta can be reached at katcorn@bu.edu.