Field Hockey

Field Hockey was played by women students in as early as 1905, when the women were allowed to use the Metcalf Botanical Garden for outdoor sports. The sport received a new impetus when Bessie Rudd arrived in 1930. Miss Rudd sent players to the Mt. Pocono Hockey Conference to be coached by visiting instructors from England. There Constance Applebee, who brought hockey from England to the United States in 1901, operated a hockey camp for many years. Miss Rudd was nationally known in hockey circles and was chairman of the Northeast sectional tournaments. In 1933 she started a Providence Hockey Club, which became a member of the U.S. Hockey Association. In the fall of 1933 one hundred students came out for hockey competition between the classes. From the 1930s into the 1950s Pembroke played against Rhode Island State, Jackson, Radcliffe, Wheaton, Mount Holyoke, and others, and took part in the annual Wellesley Play Day (afterwards the Wellesley Sports Day). In 1960, Bessie Rudd’s last season of coaching, Pembroke finished 5-1, losing only to the Bouvé School, which specialized in physical education. After Miss Rudd, field hockey was coached by Sarah Phillips from 1961 to 1968, Joan Taylor from 1969 to 1971, and Jan Lutz in 1972. Interest in field hockey had waned, but picked up in the fall of 1973, when 38 women came out for practice and no games had been scheduled. A game with Connecticut College was finally arranged. After four years without a victory, the 1973 team, coached by Marge Anderson, wife of football coach John Anderson, finished 7-4-2 after a slow start and won three games in the New England All-College Tourney. Debbie Field coached in 1974. The team had a successful 6-2-1 season in 1975, the first year with Dale Philippi as a regular coach. Julie Dickson coached from 1979 to 1983 with a record of 16-42-12. Wendy Anderson’s first team in 1984 won a share of the Ivy League title with Dartmouth. After placing second in the next three years, the 1989 team with a record of 11-5-1 overall, set a new record for most wins in a season, won another Ivy title, and also won its first ECAC championship. The 1991 season ended with a four-way tie for the Ivy League championship shared with with Cornell, Harvard, and Princeton, and a loss in triple overtime to Princeton in the first round of the ECAC tournament. Wendy Anderson’s record from 1984 to 1991 was 54-49-17. Lauren Becker was a three-time All-Ivy choice from 1984 to 1986.