On Saturday, that is exactly what will happen with the seniors on the MSU field hockey team when they start to say their goodbyes as they play their last regular season game at Ralph Young Field.

Through the sadness and shock of the day, it almost will be certain that memories and reflections will be running through the five seniors’ heads.

This year’s graduating class has a lot to hang its hat on, but one memory that stuck out was the team’s 2009 Big Ten title.

“Winning the Big Ten our sophomore year (is my favorite memory),” senior forward Chelsy Coil said. “We just had really great team chemistry, and we just went for it.”

Coil, midfielder Christie Jones, forwards Elizabeth Helffrich and Jessica Lindner and back Corey Block compose the senior class for the MSU field hockey team.

For some players, it was their first year playing for the Spartans, and after maturing through the years, they now realize the impact of winning such a tough conference.

“My freshman year, when we won the Big Ten Conference, that was amazing,” Lindner said. “That feeling was amazing because now that I am older, I realize what that really means.”

Lifelong lessons learned
Just as anything else students dedicate their lives to, there are lessons taught throughout the years that can’t come from a lecture hall or a textbook — some of these players’ most important lessons learned have come from the field hockey team.

“Field hockey and academics correlate a lot,” Lindner said. “A lot of the things I learn on the field, like hard work and always pushing for things, as well as time management, are all things I learned from field hockey that I can use off the field.”

Being a student-athlete undoubtedly tests time-management skills off the field, but on the field, there still are lessons to be taken away.

“(The biggest lesson I’ve learned is) teamwork and learning how to work with people,” Helffrich said.

A major challenge for this group of seniors was learning to deal with change.

In December 2010, former Spartan head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof resigned from MSU to take the head coaching position at Delaware. Instead of shopping around the nation to bring in a new coach, MSU chose assistant coach Helen Knull to take the reins as head coach.

The smooth transition could have been a rocky exchange for the seniors, as it is common to see entire coaching staffs depleted while schools hire a new coach.

“We kind of lucked out because it was an easy transition, since Helen was our assistant
coach,” Jones said. “That was a lot easier … because a lot of programs that get a new head coach also get a whole new staff.”

Leaving the team in good shape
The team says goodbye to a solid senior class, but the future of the Spartans appears as if it will be growing brighter. The top three goal scorers for this team, Abby Barker (16), Heather Howie (5) and Allie Ahern (5), and key midfielder Becky Stiles, are all sophomores.

“I’m excited to watch these girls compete next year and the year after that,” said senior back Corey Block of the youth on the team.

Although transitioning into a life without field hockey will be the strangest part of saying goodbye, Lindner will be saying goodbye to a nickname that contradicts the moment of her farewell.

“I am known as the ‘forever freshman’ on the team, so to me, I still feel like I’m a freshman,” Lindner said while laughing.

“I’m kind of blond sometimes, (and) I don’t really ask the smartest questions at times, so they labeled me the ‘forever freshman.’”

Block is one of three players on the team who are anything but freshmen, as they are wrapping up their fifth year on the team.

Although it has been a long journey, she admits that her time with the Green and White is something she will cherish forever.

“With Christie (Jones) and Chelsy (Coil), all three of us have been here for five years, and we joke that it has been a long five years, but it’s been fun, and I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else,” Block said.