Sophomore criminal justice major Desiree Umosella was recently selected as player of the week for field hockey.
Though this honor is only given to a single player, Umosella emphasized that it is truly the team that has brought her to be the athlete she is today.
“I think we’re going to win the conference this year. We want it so bad,” Umosella said in anticipation.
Last year, she was awarded Rookie of the Year as a freshman. This year, she has lived up to the award by scoring 11 goals in 15 games, three of which were game-winning goals.
As a forward, she has scored five points in three of her last conference games and with the help of her teammates, won each game.
Umosella was named the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Co-Mid-Atlantic Region Player of the Week on Oct. 1 and earned CSAC Honor Roll distinction on Sept. 29.
“I came here because of her,” Umosella pointed out when asked about the team’s head coach Jackie Neary. “In fact, a lot of people have come here because of her.”
Umosella said Neary has played a big role in how the team has so successfully communicated on the field this year.
Umosella mentioned her strong respect for players like Lynda Kaufmann, junior biological science major.
“I’ve never seen anybody play like her in all my years of field hockey.” However on the field, Umosella said it is mid-fielder Melissa Benedetti, senior pre-physical therapy major, who brings out the player in her. “It’s like magic when we’re together.”
The forward said that a lot of the team’s success lies in this year’s defense.
“We run a diamond defense and they’re just unstoppable. Without them, we would not be undefeated.”
Umosella said that one of her favorite parts of the college’s field hockey program is the field. Her high school field has uneven grass with patches of dirt. Sometimes under such conditions it is not necessarily the players fault for playing poorly.
However, the Cabrini field hockey field is made with turf rather than grass.
“It is much easier to concentrate on stick work.”
Although she has sat out of the last two conference games due to injury, Umosella feels she will be able to join the team by their next game and hopefully assist in winning the playoffs.
“We could be the first Cabrini field hockey team ever to win the CSAC,” Umosella said.
