Northwestern University Athletics
50 Years of Northwestern Field Hockey: Tracey Fuchs and Alumni Reflect on the Programβs Legacy
10/16/2024 1:40:00β―PM | Field Hockey
It's a special weekend coming up for Northwestern field hockey, as they celebrate 50 years of the program. To commemorate the occasion, we've got a special episode of NUFH Said for you this week. In the first part, Tracey Fuchs sits down for an interview where we discussed the journey of building up the program from when she took over in 2009 to winning a Big Ten title in 2014 to winning a national title in 2021.Β
Then, you'll hear clips from interviews with several program alumni: Jen Averill, the current Wake Forest head coach who played at NU from 1983-1987, Nancy Stevens, who coached at NU from 1981-1989 and Lisa McCarthy, who played from 2012-2015 and was a member of that 2014 Big Ten tournament championship team.
Here's an excerpt of what Fuchs had to say. For the full interviews, check out the latest episode of NUFH Said:
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Eric Rynston-Lobel: So when you came here in 2009, the program hadn't had a winning record in over 10 years, they were like 30 games under .500 in the previous few years before you got here. What made you optimistic that you could turn this around, and what was your vision coming into the program?
Tracey Fuchs: It was simple. Great academics. We knew we could attract the best talent academically. This place sells itself. I had always admired Northwestern. Sometimes when you're coaching β I was at Michigan before this β you only see the field and your hotel room, so to get here and see how beautiful the campus is and how much support Northwestern always provides for their female sports, it was a no-brainer for me to take this job and have it be my first head coaching job in a collegiate setting.
Rynston-Lobel: Did you ever envision having this level of success here? It's taken a while, but you win a national championship, you get to three in a row now. Was that something you thought you could accomplish when you first got here?
Fuchs: I knew it could happen. Anybody that knows me knows I wouldn't come to a school or a place where I couldn't be successful. I knew they had a good core of solid players and obviously, coming here with Carla Tagliente at the time, who's now the head coach at Princeton, I thought we could build something great. It took us a little bit, but we did it, and obviously we want to sustain our excellence moving forward into the next decade, hopefully.
Rynston-Lobel: That 2014 tournament, you beat Iowa, you end up beating Maryland to win the championship. That was Maryland's first year in the Big Ten. What do you remember about finally getting that trophy?
Fuchs: It was amazing. I think that was maybe my fifth year. I have to tell you, what I remember is that after we got the trophy, the trainer came on the bus and said somebody needed stitches because they cut their finger on the trophy. I was like, 'Oh boy, here we go, we're going to NCAAs, and we're getting hurt off the field.' But it was an amazing moment for everybody, for me, my staff, the team around the team who had put so much work in. And the players and their belief that they can win. The Big Ten is arguably one of the best conferences in our country. And to win that championship meant a ton and will always stick with us.Β
