The 2024 season was a banner year for the UMass field hockey team. Seventeen games won, a runner-up finish in the Atlantic 10 tournament and its first NCAA Tournament Final Four appearance in more than 30 years all designated last fall’s campaign as the Minutewomen’s best during head coach Barb Weinberg’s nearly decade-long tenure.
With the 2025 season set to begin Friday at Vermont, UMass’ road to repeating last season’s success will feature one sharp detour in that the Minutewomen will now lace them up as members of the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
Gone are the days of squaring off with longtime foe and frequent A-10 title winner Saint Joseph’s. From now on, programs such as James Madison and Miami (Ohio) will be a couple of squads that UMass will have to familiarize itself with within MAC play.
“We’re excited about it,” Weinberg said after practice Wednesday on the move to the MAC. “New teams, new challenges. The goal remains the same, to compete for conference championships every single year. We’re excited to have a new challenge.”
The Minutewomen have seemingly already earned the respect of their new conference compatriots as UMass was voted to finish first and claim the MAC championship in the coaches preseason poll released on Wednesday.
UMass received seven first-place votes and 77 total points to slot in at the top, followed behind by second place James Madison (71 points) and third place Miami (68 points).
The Dukes and Redhawks, in particular, are two teams Weinberg expects to have spirited battles with on the turf this season.
“Miami of Ohio has tended to dominant the MAC,” Weinberg said. “I think they’ve won [seven] MAC championships in a row, so they’ll continue to be huge competitors. Other teams have gotten better with JMU coming into the conference [too].”
Weinberg also noted Kent State and Appalachian State have improved in recent years as the former came in at fifth place in the preseason poll and the latter was placed in fourth.
Despite the fresh conference digs, these Minutewomen — which are currently the 14th-ranked team in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I National Coaches Poll — have high expectations.
“Winning a conference championship is never an easy task, but I think with the talent and experience that we have, we’re going to be in a good position to compete for a championship,” Weinberg said.
From a recruiting standpoint, switching conferences won’t change how UMass goes about finding field hockey players, in the way that it will with the football and men’s basketball teams, specifically. Rather, Weinberg said identifying top talent, no matter where they come from, is still the priority.
“We have 15 international [players] on the team this year,” Weinberg said. “We don’t care where in the world they come from, we’re just trying to put together the best roster that we can.”
Speaking of which, Myrte van Herwijnen — a Netherlands native — counts as the Minutewomen’s most impactful returner as the senior will serve as their starting goalkeeper once again in 2025.
In 23 games played as a junior, van Herwijnen clocked a 1.03 goals-against average, a .798 save percentage, plus eight shutouts.
Weinberg mentioned her goalkeeper, as well as senior Gabrielle Benkenstein and junior Kristy Leonard, will combine to make up UMass’ on-field captains for the year.
“They’ve done a great job throughout the spring and over the course of the summer in leading this group and we expect them to continue to rise to the occasion,” Weinberg said. “Elena Clococeanu and also Savanna Henderson are part of our leadership group as well.”
Ahead of Friday’s season opener against the Catamounts, the Minutewomen have had a pair of exhibitions to work out the kinks from the offseason and while the results didn’t matter, Weinberg stated they still served as learning opportunities.
“Maine was a really solid game for us overall,” Weinberg said. “We were able to put a lot of goals in the back of the net. Against UNH, we learned that we have to be more adaptable. When we’re playing against a team with a different style, UNH was really dangerous on their counter-attacks and we gave them a lot of dangerous opportunities. Being able to adapt to different styles of play within the game is going to be critical for us.”
Vermont won the America East Tournament Championship to secure its spot in last season’s NCAA Tournament, therefore, Friday will be no cake-walk for UMass. The Catamounts went 11-9 a season ago, but ultimately fell to Miami (Ohio), 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“Vermont is going to be tough,” Weinberg said. “They’ve become a really structured team over the last few years. I think they have quality all over the pitch and they’ve got a couple of standout players so I think it’s going to be a really tough game and a great one for us to open with to see where we stand.”
Friday’s game in Burlington, Vermont is scheduled for 3 p.m.
