Collegiate Field Hockey at 100

Who could have imagined a century ago that the sport, then played on borrowed fields, would now be housed on state-of-the-art, synthetic turf with a rustic backdrop of pines and oaks on the school’s spacious Robins Campus?

 

Who could have imagined the speed at which the game would ultimately be contested or the players’ well-honed, crafty stickwork developed through years of training in youth leagues and on travel teams, or the strength and conditioning opportunities afforded young women?

 

And who could have imagined that from those humble origins, the Cougars would establish themselves as one of the premier programs among all schools, public and independent, in Virginia?

 

“What stands out to me is that Collegiate had competitive girls team sports 100 years ago,” said Karen Doxey, who headed the school’s field hockey program for 35 years until her retirement in 2022. “That was very progressive for the time. A lot of the success over the years goes back to the quality of the kids we have. When I came here, the program already had a positive culture built by the kids and coaches. It was a culture based on teamwork, effort, and attitude.”

 

In Collegiate’s early years at 1619 Monument Avenue, the team practiced at such locales as Byrd Park, Westhampton College, the Presbyterian School of Christian Education, and Mary Munford Elementary School.

 

Highlights during that Town School era, in addition to winning their share of games, were visits by internationally known field hockey icons. In 1936, Joan Law, the right wing on the All-England hockey team, stopped at Collegiate to deliver an instructional clinic. The next year, the legendary Constance M.K. Applebee, a 70-year-old Brit who in 1901 had introduced the sport to the United States, spent a week at Collegiate amidst her tour of American prep schools and colleges.  

 

“Be quick and use your imagination,” Applebee told Collegiate’s girls, who, according to published accounts, were mesmerized by her knowledge of hockey as well as her skill and dexterity considering her age.

 

Collegiate regularly earned and enjoyed success, and the 1959 season, the last before the move to North Mooreland Road, was one of the best. A charter inductee into the School’s Athletic Hall of Fame, the team finished 6-0-1. Six players (Judy Keehn, Clay Brumback, Cheramy Howe, Mary Carrington, Anne Harlan, and Emily Redford) made the All-Tidewater first team and two (Ann Harwood and Virginia Brent) the second team. 

 

From 1960 until the mid-1970’s, the Cougars (a sobriquet added following the move to North Mooreland Road) played and practiced on the south end of the campus near where Luck Hall and Centennial Hall now stand. Despite the often muddy and slippery conditions of the fields, they persevered and excelled.

 

Then, they moved to fields on the east side of campus that were created when a large, wooded area was cleared. Fifteen years ago, the area was repurposed as a parking lot, and the program relocated yet again to the Robins Campus.

 

As with most sports, the game has changed over the years, though much remains the same.

 

“The rules were much different when I played,” said Missy Herod ’72, a standout multi-sport athlete at Collegiate, who served her alma mater in myriad capacities from 1983 until she retired in 2022. “You couldn’t raise your stick above your shoulder level. Offsides was different. You couldn’t turn your back on an opponent when you hit the ball. They had to have equal access to it. You don’t have that rule anymore. You can play much faster now. Sticks are smaller and stronger, and you can hit the ball farther. The object is still to get the ball in the goal, to use the whole field for play, and to distribute the ball to your teammates.”

 

Doxey, the namesake of the Robins Campus hockey/lacrosse field, arrived at Collegiate in 1986 after coaching at Norfolk Academy for eight years.

 

“I knew what a great program Collegiate had,” she said. “I knew some of the people, and I knew my impressions driving in on the bus from Norfolk Academy. I remember thinking, this is a cool place. Collegiate just seemed so full of life. People were always so friendly. That made a big impression on me. You could tell there was quality here at Collegiate.”

 

Doxey’s 43-year field hockey record was 641-179-38 including 544-137-24 at Collegiate. Upon her retirement, her victory total ranked third on the National Federation of State High School Associations all-time list. During her tenure, the Cougars won 19 League of Independent Schools and eight VISAA championships. Her 1986 and 2003 teams were inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame.

 

All told, the Cougars have won 25 LIS and 10 state titles. Fifteen members of the Athletic Hall of Fame were primarily hockey players, and another four played it as a secondary sport.

 

Seven Collegiate players, Jamie Whitten (2001), Blair Northen (2003), Kate Hanley (2004), Tori O’Shea (2006, 2007), Hillary Zell (2008, 2009), Brooks Doxey (2013), and Callie Rogers (2022, 2023) were honored as the Richmond Times-Dispatch Player of the Year in Central Virginia.

 

Whitten and Rogers were NFHCA All-Americans, Izzy Lee and Rogers were NFHCA All-Region selections, and Antoinette Lucas is a USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame inductee. Myriad Cougars have earned all-league, all-state, and all-metro honors over the years, and many have gone on to play—and several to coach—at the college level.

 

There’s more to the program’s success, though, than just high-profile, decorated athletes.

 

“Over the generations of Collegiate hockey, there’s always been a commitment to sustained excellence,” said Andrew Stanley, Collegiate’s athletic director. “In field hockey, we continue to find opportunities for kids for whom it’s not their first sport, and we’ve seen so many kids who were not frontline athletes who are willing to be coached, playing impactful roles.”

 

Kelsey Smither, a former Lakeland High School and Old Dominion University star and successful college assistant coach, served a year as Doxey’s assistant and the last four as Collegiate’s head coach.

 

“Being the steward of the field hockey program in its 100th year is an honor, an opportunity, and a responsibility,” said Smither, whose team is 15-0-1 entering this week’s LIS tournament. “I’ve only been part of five percent of that history. I recognize that I’m very much a part of an ongoing continuum of players, coaches, parents, supporters, and community members who have built this program into something that has been truly special over generations.

 

“In sports, at the end of the day, it isn’t about just wins and losses and championships. It’s about the hard work, the community, and the resilience that our athletes learn through the experience. My role is to uphold the standards and traditions that made this program great and to evolve and invest in the future so that over the next 100 years, we can sustain and continue to build.”

~Weldon Bradshaw