By Amy Farnum Novin
NCAA Staff

The prospect of the Bentley University women’s field hockey team advancing to the NCAA Division II Championship this season was not a very good one after the Falcons began the season with a dismal 1-5 record, but first-year head coach Jessica King and her players never gave up on the goal.

The Falcons started the season with three road goals in four days, and were adjusting to their new coach, despite having a veteran squad with 10 of 11 returning starters.

“I think it took a little bit of time to get adjusted,” said junior goalkeeper Alyssa Sliney. “We had a lot of problems scoring goals, too, and once we figured that out, we just took off. It was a combination of getting more comfortable with each other, and putting the offense together to get in sync.”

King changed a few players’ positions in the starting lineup, along with the team’s set plays, and the offense that had scored just five goals in six days immediately became more productive.

“Ever since then, we keep evolving and changing and tweaking things and we just keep winning,” said King. “They never gave up on the season. At 1-5, it didn’t look so good, but they didn’t give up.”

The disappointing beginning was hard to swallow, considering there were high expectations for the experienced squad that had advanced to the NCAA Division II semifinals in the previous year.

“We had really only lost one starting player, and (the team) had high expectations and so did I,” said King. “They just kept grinding away and we’re in a good spot right now, so they have a lot to be proud about.”

The Falcons’ perseverance paid off, and the wins started to pile up. Bentley has been perfect in 16 games since then, winning the Northeast-10 Conference title and earning a bye in the first round of the Division II Championship.

One of the reasons for the Falcons’ turnaround was the stellar play of Sliney in front of the net. She leads the nation with an. 842 save percentage and ranks fourth in Division II with a 0.95 goals against average, and was named Most Valuable Player of the NE-10 Championship.

“She’s the backbone of the team,” said King. “She organizes the defense and is just an incredible leader and an incredible athlete.”

King says Sliney has been solid and consistent throughout the season, and helped keep the defense focused while the offense improved.

“It’s a struggle when you’re on defense – especially the goalie, because you cannot go and score goals,” said Sliney. “You just can’t get frustrated and keep doing your job. The defense has played pretty consistently all year long, and you just have trust in your teammates that they’ll do their job, and eventually they did.”

Bentley is making its fifth straight appearance in the NCAA tournament, and ninth since 1999. The Falcons have advanced to the semifinals in four of the last five seasons, including this year, since they received a bye straight into the round of four. The veteran squad is looking to continue their winning streak two more games in order to claim the school’s first national title since 2001.

“I don’t think the nerves are there, but it’s still the competition that we’ve seen time and time again, and we have yet to be as successful as we’d like to be against them,” said Sliney. “We’re ready for this situation.”

“They do have a composure that some teams may not necessarily have,” said King. “We’ve won games in just about every way you could think of this year – coming back, keeping the leading, penalty strokes, seven-on-seven. They just really find a way. They have to feel confident with how prepared they are to face just about any type of challenge.”

The Falcons will face the winner of UMass-Lowell and Southern Connecticut on Nov. 14. The NCAA Championship will be held in Bloomsburg, Pa., on Nov. 14-16. Bloomsburg is the No. 1 seed in the other region, and also earned a bye to the semifinals.