Stonehill women stick to lax goal

By Rich Thompson, Boston Herald

EASTON - Tracey Hoffman is the beneficiary of three strong recruiting classes that followed her arrival at Stonehill College.

The midfielder from Nashua, N.H., is the only starting senior on a squad dominated by underclassmen and a visual link to Stonehill's NCAA championship voyage in 2005. The Skyhawks also were national champs in 2003.

Motivated by a sense of finality that comes with being a college senior, Hoffman will lead No. 2 Stonehill (18-1) against No. 1 C.W. Post (15-0) in the Division 2 North Region final today (11:30 a.m.) at Spartan Field in Salem, Va.

West Chester (18-1) will battle Lock Haven (16-3) in the South Region final at 2:30 p.m. The winners advance to the NCAA title game tomorrow at noon.

Hoffman and ninth-year coach Michael Daly (140-26) gleefully appreciate how the Skyhawks confounded the odds arrayed against their getting to the national semifinals. Stonehill graduated nine starters and four All-Americans in 2006 while the bull's eye embedded in their purple-and-white uniforms grew disproportionately.

"I was hearing how Stonehill had lost all those great players and how they were done," said Hoffman with an unmistakable twinkle in her eyes.

"I'm sure they were thinking they aren't going anywhere with all those freshmen. How are they going to pull it off again? But we learned how to work with each other and we definitely evolved over the course of the season into a really connected team."

Daly rebuilt his squad at both ends and in the middle to capture his eighth straight Northeast-10 title while extending the Skyhawks' conference win streak to 68 games. Junior All-American Kristin Darrell scored 61 goals and notched 84 points to lead an offense that averaged 16.68 goals per game. Hoffman was the Skyhawks' playmaker with 33 goals and 38 assists while freshman Liza Gross added 41 tallies with 19 assists.

Sophomore midfielder Michelle Kelly greased the Skyhawks' transition game with outstanding stick work and the ability to function at both ends. Kelly was named the NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year and MVP of the conference tournament. Kelly scored 58 goals with 27 assists, which are splendid offensive numbers for a midfielder. But her true value was measured in 44 draw controls, 33 ground balls and 23 forced turnovers.

"We knew this year we would be underdogs and that we all had to step up," said Kelly. "But the reason we became a better team was because we had no go-to person. We all had to pick it up."

While Stonehill's offensive production was staggering, it was the Skyhawks defense that transformed the team into an instant contender. Sophomore defender Kristyn Gramzow of Billerica managed a reconfigured defense that allowed a stingy 6.42 goals pre game. Amanda McGeachey replaced All-American Lauren Stone in the goal for Stonehill.

"It got to the point where we were knocking down a lot more passes and we definitely got better at anticipating," said Gramzow. "We had such a young defense and most of us were playing together for the first time."