With an emphasis on a team “growth mindset,” the Boston University field hockey team has aspirations of winning a Patriot League title.

Athletics

Field Hockey Battles Bucknell in Patriot League Home Opener Saturday

Team is finding success despite injuries to key players

The last two years have proven challenging for BU’s field hockey team. 

Last season, renovations at New Balance Field forced the BU women to play and practice at off-campus facilities in Newton and Allston. And this season, three key players suffered season-ending injuries before the team played its first game. 

But despite those challenges, the Terriers have posted three wins during a difficult early-season schedule—in overtime over Maine (September 1) and Vermont (September 10) and 4-0 at Holy Cross in the Patriot League opener on September 18.

The team’s “growth mindset” has been key to their success, says head coach Sally Starr, now marking her 42nd season helming the program. 

“Our culture is great,” she says. Players “are really supportive of each other. Really good work ethic, but also we talk about getting better every opportunity. Every practice opportunity, every competition opportunity. They’ve really embraced that.” 

BU will look to continue the positive momentum when it faces Bucknell in the Patriot League home opener at New Balance Field on Saturday, September 30. 

Tess Csejka (CAS’24), Ella Rottinghaus (CAS’25), and Maddie Hudson (CAS’26)—the three injured players—are all taking medical redshirt years to maintain eligibility for next season. Csejka, one of the best forwards in the Patriot League, led the team in scoring with 10 goals last year. 

Starr says the sidelined players still attend every practice and walk out with the team during pregame ceremonies. “They’re supporting the team in every way that they can,” she says. 

She notes that the team has five more players on the roster than last year, which has become a key asset given the injuries. “Even with those injuries and medical redshirts, we still have about 20 kids able to play, so we’re able to do many more things in practice.”

Payton Anderson (CAS’25), the Patriot League Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, anchors an experienced back line that held conference opponents to a league-low 1.17 goals per game last year. Offensively, the Terriers rely on younger players, like Caroline O’Brien (CAS’26)—a transfer from Wake Forest—and Martu Coulo (CAS’26), who have combined for eight goals through the first eight games. 

Rachel Borzymowski (CAS’24) brings experience and quality to the midfield. The two-time All-Patriot League second-teamer has been a staple of BU’s roster since her freshman year, starting 62 of the 67 games she’s played in. She has proven herself just as accomplished off the field. 

A biology major with minors in psychology and visual arts, Borzymowski has a 3.94 GPA and was named BU Woman of the Year by BU Athletics last spring. The Maryland native was also inducted into the University’s Scarlet Key Honor Society. 

Kate Thomason (CAS’24) has started every game in net this season. She was the understudy to star goalie Caroline Kelly (COM’23) for the past three seasons, but the Wellington, New Zealand, native has slotted well into the starting role after Kelly graduated in May (she’s now playing for Boston College, where she’s enrolled as a graduate student). 

“Kate is doing such a great job,” Anderson says. “She is really owning her position, and she’s such a dominant voice. You can see her confidence and her playing is really improved as well.”

The “growth mindset” that Starr talks about comes from the four core values she has implemented for the program: joy, integrity, passion, and selflessness, or J.I.P.S. “It’s doing a lot of work during preseason and talking about those core values and what they mean and how to be consistent with them,” she says. 

The coach also had the team read Allistair McCaw’s The Habits That Make a Champion, a book that includes lessons like “controlling the controllable,” “adhering to rituals,” and “embracing repetition.”

On the pitch, expectations are high. BU was the Patriot League regular season champion last year, and the Terriers were inches away from winning a Patriot League title, losing the championship game 2-1 in overtime to Lehigh. This season, BU was ranked second in the Patriot League preseason poll, behind American University. So far, the team has posted a 3-5 record, a 1-1 mark in Patriot League play.

The remainder of the Terriers’ schedule is a mix of conference contests and nonconference games, including an October 1 showdown with Northeastern at New Balance Field and an October 17 battle with Cornell, also at New Balance. 

Each game will be an opportunity for the team to draw closer to its long-term goals: to host the Patriot League Tournament and win the conference title. 

“We have so much passion when we play hockey. You can see everyone’s just loving what they’re doing,” Anderson says. “We’re just dogs out there. We’re so hungry for more. You can really see the hunger for a win on the field.” 

The BU field hockey team hosts Bucknell in its Patriot League home opener on Saturday, September 30, at 1 pm, on New Balance Field, and on Sunday, October 1, at 1 pm, the Terriers go up against Northeastern, also at New Balance. Admission is free and the games can be streamed live on ESPN+.