“In order for us to grow as a sport in the U.S., you’ve got to help promote and develop the game at different levels,” head coach Rolf van de
Kerkhof said.

“So … we invite junior high and high school age players or people that are not familiar with the game yet to come out and learn more about it, as well as enjoy the game in conjunction with the play day against Indiana.”

Despite the sport not being very popular in Michigan, the Spartans said there is a growing interest in field hockey, and they want to help facilitate it. Team members said they expect participants from around the state and region.

“It’s fun that they’re willing to come up here,” senior midfielder Julie Mackay said. “They actually kind of look up to us, so it’s cool to know that there are girls that follow us.

“We can just hang out with them for a couple of hours and teach them a thing or two.”

Finishing strong

With MSU only having two regular-season games remaining, the team said it wants to finish its season on a positive note to lead them into the postseason.

The Spartans have progressed through the season by taking one game at a time, and while that mentality will not change for their final games, they said they still have the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament in the back of their minds.

“It’s important to be consistent and just take one game at a time because we know that we are looking at some important games in the future after the season,” senior forward Camille Dagorn said. “But we have to put our focus on the games coming up first.”

The Spartans take on Indiana on Saturday, followed by Northwestern on Oct. 31 in Evanston, Ill.

Despite the Spartans topping the Wildcats, 2-1, Sunday, team members said anyone could win both games and will anticipate the games being postseason previews.

“(The) next two games are Big Ten games, so they will allow us to see what we have to do better on for the Big Ten Tournament because we may face the same teams or the same caliber teams,” van de Kerkhof said.

Gaining chemistry

With their regular season winding down, the Spartans said their wins, losses and off-the-field experiences have allowed them to grow as a group and strengthen bonds, which translates into trust on the field.

“We’ve gained a bigger sense of trust, and people have learned to understand and accept their roles on the team a lot better, and that’s essentially what’s going to get us to where we want to go,” Mackay said.

“When everybody does that, we can have full trust within the team, and that’s what’s going to get us (to the NCAA Tournament),” she added.

Rotating positions and rehearsing potential game situations in practice also has developed the players’ faith in each other, redshirt freshman goalkeeper Molly Cassidy said.

“You’re not going to have the same person always to your left and right out there, (so) in practice, we switch it up,” she said. “We’re starting to understand that it doesn’t matter.

“We have some very skilled players on our team, and there’s no question that they work really hard, and they work well together.”