Northwestern University Athletics
Fifth Years Talk Final Season
8/21/2024 10:35:00β―AM | Field Hockey
By Eric Rynston-Lobel
Of the 10 players from the 2020 first-year class, five are still part of the Northwestern field hockey program. Maddie Zimmer (2023 All-American First Team), Annabel Skubisz (2023 Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year), Lauren Wadas (2023 First Team All-Big Ten), Katie Jones (2023 Big Ten All-Tournament Team) and Chloe Relford (2x Academic All-Big Ten) all decided to return to Evanston for one final ride this fall with their sights set high.
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β Northwestern Field Hockey (@NUFHCats) August 20, 2024
We caught up with some of our favorite 5?th years in the newest episode of #NUFHSaid
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During their first four seasons, the Wildcats have reached the NCAA Tournament all four times, including three National Championship Game appearances (2021, 2022, 2023) and one national title (2021). They headline a team entering 2024 on a mission to finish on top once again.
Four of the fifth-year players β Skubisz, Wadas, Jones and Relford β recently sat down for an interview, looking ahead to the 2024 season and also looking back on their journeys coming in as first years during the COVID-19 pandemic and how that's shaped their Northwestern experience.
The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity and brevity. To hear the full interview, check out this week's episode of NUFH Said.
Eric Rynston-Lobel: Chloe, we can start with you. Describe for me what it's like around the team right now as you're getting ready for the start of the season.
Chloe Relford: Vibes have been good. I think everyone's just excited to be back together, back playing together. I think we've got a lot to prove this season after the way last season ended, so we're just excited to be back. Excited to have Maddie [Zimmer] back with us and Ashley [Sessa] and the freshmen, so I think it'll be a good year.
Lauren Wadas: Yeah, I totally agree with Chloe. Practice has been looking really well so far. Obviously super excited to have everyone back on campus and playing together, and again super excited to have the first years here with us and Maddie back with us and Ashley joining us as well this year. Looking forward to our first scrimmage against Iowa.Β
Rynston-Lobel: Annabel, you're back in net for the 'Cats. Describe how much responsibility you've felt being the leader in the cage.
Annabel Skubisz: I don't think too much has changed from the past years. I feel like every year that I've been on this team, I've earned and then been rewarded a little bit more responsibility. This year, we have so many upperclassmen that I think the newcomers really respect and look up to. There's really not too much that changes honestly. Now we have a mostly returning back field line as well, which makes everything easier from back to front.Β
Rynston-Lobel: Katie, for you, you were part of the 2023 Big Ten all-tournament team. Have you used that as some motivation to get you going toward this year?
Katie Jones: I haven't really thought about it. I'm just excited to be back with half my grade, and the newcomers are pretty nice as well, so I'm just excited to be back, haven't really thought about the season yet. More just bonding with the new people.
Rynston-Lobel: Can you talk about the process of deciding to come back for your fifth year because I feel like a lot of people might take it for granted that you have an extra year of eligibility, you're going to use it. But it's not that simple, so how do you go about making that decision?
Relford: For me, it was kind of a no-brainer. Once we knew that Covid happened, and we were all gonna have this extra year, I think I already started to think about it and just delaying that 'real world' as long as possible, trying to stay in school. I think for me, I just knew that I wanted to be here as long as I could stay with this team. We had a really great class coming in my freshmen year, just knew that I wanted to stay with [them] as long as I could.
Wadas: After last season, too, we have unfinished business and just again, really looking forward to the season. And I think for me as well, it was just a no-brainer to stay here with such great athletics and academics.
Jones: I think last season, we probably had the most fun, at least for myself, in the last four years I've been here. It was an easy decision to make to stay with the girls a little bit longer.
Rynston-Lobel: I want to go back to the beginning, Covid was the first year you got here. How did that impact things for all four of you?
Relford: It was definitely tough coming in during Covid. We had a huge class. There were 10 of us to start, which is a lot, but we all just hit it off right away and honestly spent every moment together right when we got here during that whole Covid year. It kind of sucked having our season get pushed to the spring, but I think it was good. It allowed us to all bond and get to know each other and just have time with the team before we even had to compete. It ended up working out for the best and was great for the 10 of us. Like I said, we all were super close right off the bat, so I'm glad we were able to form those relationships.
Rynston-Lobel: Coach Will Byrne had referred to your class as the transformative class for this program. Lauren, I'm curious about your perspective on that and why you think your group has had such a positive impact on where this program has gone?
Wadas: Like Chloe said, we were a really close group right from the start, and I think we just brought a different perspective to the team. We just came in and had a lot of fun. We didn't take anything too seriously, but we were ready to work. And we, as a group, positively impacted the culture and saw a shift from there.
Rynston-Lobel: Annabel, how have you seen the program's culture evolve as you enter your fifth year?
Skubisz: Our team has had so many conversations about culture over the years. I think it's an interesting conversation, too, because what we had last year was so good, and it's so easy to compare what you currently have to what you had in the past, whether it was bad in the past or good in the past. And I think, though, it's really important that you look at each group of girls as a different group of people in figuring out, sure, our principles are kindness, respect, hard work, but every year, the sense of humor is going to change, the activities we do are going to change, and I think what's helped is trying to shape the vibe of the team to the people we have, rather than trying to force the culture onto the incomings and make them fall in line. And I think that helps give our team a lot of personality, too, which makes it more fun.
Wadas: Going off that, too, we have these values as a team, and when the freshmen come in, just sharing those values with them, and sharing how our culture is and the standards that we have. Obviously every person is going to have their unique personality that they bring to the team, but these are the standards that we have as a team and the culture that we want and have built over the past five years.
Relford: I agree. Sharing those values was huge, but I also think another reason we were so successful last year especially and the years before that is because everyone had a role on our team, whether you were on the field or not, every single person on our team played a role in our success, and I think we all kind of shared that respect for each other, an understanding of what everyone's role was, and I think going into this year, that's going to be huge, especially after losing some of our key players who are a part of that big culture.Β
Rynston-Lobel: How do you go about integrating the new players into the group while also emphasizing what's worked in the past and make sure you're not losing that?
Wadas: Normally before our preseason starts, we like to do a 'pre-preseason' where basically everyone gets to campus a few days early, and we're just hanging out as a team, and I think that really helps us and gives us time to get to know everyone and get back into the flow of things. Unfortunately we didn't have that this year because preseason was moved earlier, but we try to focus on a lot of team bonding activities and during preseason, we're pretty much at the facility all day, so we're getting to spend time with each other. On the field, we have a set of standards and whether you're a first year or a fifth year, everyone's going to be held to the same standards, and that's just how it's been when we first got here as well, so I think that's what's really key.
Rynston-Lobel: What're you most excited about this season, and what're you most hoping to accomplish before the season's over?
Wadas: I'm most excited about getting one last season with my class. It's sad that these five years have gone so fast but just really enjoying one last go-around together.
Skubisz: I feel like for all of us, having four years, having Covid, you do realize how special this opportunity here is at Northwestern and to play on this team, to have a team that we like so much and to compete for the titles that we get to compete for, I feel like I'm just most excited for the process that all that entails because you do, win or lose, walk out with so many good memories, funny stories and personal growth.Β
Relford: I agree, it's gone by way too fast, but just excited for everything that's going to happen this season. I think it'll be a good one
Jones: I'm just looking forward to one last season with the girls I spent the last four years with, pretty much every day. Maybe go out with a bang. Get what we're looking for. But if not, I just want to enjoy the time I have left here, because it's not long.
