WATERVILLE — Erin Nelligan never thought she would become a field hockey coach — at least not this soon, anyways.
Sometimes, though, life has other plans.
FIELD HOCKEY
Coach: Andrea Thebarge (8th season)
Last season: 7-10 (4-1 NAC), lost in conference semifinals
Key players: Abbie Charrier (Jr., GK), Brooklyn Curry (Sr., M), Taylor Bergeron (Sr., F), Caitlyn Poulin (So., B), Katie Taylor (Fr., M), Tiffany Weeks (Fr., M), Emily Leighton (Sr., F), Crystal Cunningham (Sr., M), Erica Blake, (Jr., B), Abby Dunn (So., F), Lindsay Morong (Fr.,) B
Outlook: After an impressive effort in a 4-2 loss to Colby last Wednesday, the Terriers seem ready to challenge the rest of the NAC. Thomas was picked third behind Husson and the University of Maine-Farmington in the preseason coaches’ poll, but did garner one first place vote. The Terriers returned all but four starters from a season ago, including Blake — a first-team, all-conference selection in 2014 — and Dunn, a Gardiner native who finished second on the team in points last fall.
MEN’S SOCCER
Coach: Chris Parsons (5th season)
Last season: 10-5-3 (5-2-2 NAC), lost in conference finals
Key players: Tre Ming (Sr., M), Lukas Bohman (Sr., D), London Steede-Jackson (Jr., M), Joakim Sternas (Jr., GK), Eric Knight (So., D), Josh Emard (Fr., F), D.J. Nicholas (Fr., F), Willie Clemons (So., M), Chris Godfrey (Sr., D), Adam LaBrie (Fr., F), Kyle Fletcher (So., F/M), Benjamin Vigue (Fr., D)
Outlook: The Terriers made a run to the conference finals a season ago, where they lost to Husson 4-0 in Bangor. Thomas has made four out of the past five NAC championship games, and the conference’s coaches seem to think its capable of another run as the Terriers and Husson were selected to finish first in the preseason poll. Even still, Thomas will need to find a way to replace the scoring punch of Dakota Duplissie, a Maranacook graduate who was the conference’s player of the year in 2014. Ming, the team’s top playmaker, should help in that department, while Bohman will anchor the team’s defense.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Coach: Deb Biche-Labbe (5th season)
Last season: 5-12 (2-7 NAC)
Key players: Bronte Howarth (Sr., M), Kajsa Kaufeldt (Sr., F), Paige Leary (Jr., GK), Brogan Leppanen (Fr., M/F), Lindsy Hoopingarner (Sr., F), Emily Dufour (So.,), Cassie Contigiani (Fr.,), Camille Filloramo (Fr., M/D), Lauren Pelletier (Fr., F), Kristina Emmons (Jr., M), Julia Smith (Fr., M/D), Jackie Woodward (So., D)
Outlook: After finishing in the bottom half of the conference a season ago the Terriers were picked to finish eighth out of 10 teams this fall in the preseason coaches’ poll. Howarth and Kaufeldt return as the team’s leading scorers from a season ago with seven and six goals, respectively. They — along with returning starters Leary, Dufour and Hoopingarner — give the Terriers a good base to start with, and if their younger players can fill in from there they should challenge for a playoff spot.
CROSS COUNTRY
Coach: Kerry Smart (7th season)
Last season: Men finished 8th in NAC championship, women 7th
Roster: Men’s — Cole Barney (Jr.), Sam Cook (Sr.), Josh Devou (Jr.), Jasen Dickey (Jr.), Jordon Gibson (Jr.), Ethan Harriman (Fr.), Nick Kopf (Jr.), Forrest Labbe (Sr.), Aron MacLean (Sr.), Tyler Small (Sr.), Dillon Sullivan (Fr.). Women’s — Amanda Cotter (Jr.), Alyssa Maggi (So.), Crystal Peatfield (Jr.), Krysten Quinn (Jr.)
Outlook: The Terrier men finished in eighth place out of nine teams at last season’s NAC championship, but return their top three finishers from that race in Kopf, Cook and Barney and five of their top seven. Harriman, a Maranacook graduate, enters the fold this year after placing 17th in the Class C high school cross country championships last fall. He was named the NAC Rookie of the Week on Sept. 7. On the women’s side, Cotter returns as one of the conference’s top runners having placed fifth in the NAC championships last season. Peatfield and Maggi also return after competing for the Terriers in the NAC championships last fall as well. The women were picked to finish sixth in the conference’s preseason poll, while the men’s team was projected to place seventh.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Coach: Jill Cristan (2nd season)
Last season: 6-5 (3-2 NEAC), lost in East Division semifinals
Roster: Lindsey Allen (Jr.), Rachel Gillis (So.), Amelia Guimond (So.), Katie McAllister (Sr.), Olivia Mora (So.)
Outlook: The Terriers will need to find a new No. 1 this season after graduating Jessica Bowen, a first-team, all-conference selection, as well as No. 3 and No. 6 singles players Emily Howard and Dalia Williams, respectively. Despite the losses, Thomas was still picked to finish fourth in the NAC’s preseason poll. Allen, a first-team, all-conference selection a season ago in doubles, began the season playing in the No. 1 singles spot in the Terriers’ opener against the University of Southern Maine. She, along with Mora — Thomas’ No. 2 singles player — should form one of the better doubles teams in the NAC.
“It’s been really hard to take a step back from playing and it really breaks my heart not to be out there, but I’m just as happy on the sideline coaching,” said Nelligan, a senior at Thomas College. “I’m just trying to do as much as I can, but it has definitely been a different role not being out there.”
Nelligan, a member of the field hockey and women’s lacrosse teams at Thomas, figured to be one of the Terriers’ top players this season after starting in all 17 games last fall. That changed this past spring, however, when she tore her ACL and meniscus after taking a draw with around four minutes left in the first half in a March 28 lacrosse game against Castleton State College.
“I would not wish it on my worst enemy but I can only grow from it,” Nelligan said. “It’s a nine-month process so it’s long, tedious and hard work. I’m just going to come back stronger.”
While Nelligan is still hopeful to be ready for lacrosse in the spring, the injury has not prevented the Walpole, Massachusetts native from making an impact on the field hockey team — albeit in a different capacity. She will serve as a student assistant with the Terriers and was also named a captain for the second straight season along with senior midfielder Brooklyn Curry and junior goalkeeper Abbie Charrier.
“She’s been a leader ever since she came here and not having her on the field is rough. Coming into the season I was a little bit scared,” Charrier, one of four Mount View High School graduates on the team, said. “I didn’t know we were going to replace such a good presence but now she’s just on the sidelines. You hear her and it’s the same things. She’s able to see a lot more because she’s not playing and so she coaches us.
“She’s a leader when it comes to defensive stuff in practice. She’ll stand right behind the cage and tell us all what to do and we’re all so extremely lucky to have her.”
While there is certainly a sense of disappointment that Nelligan will not play for the Terriers this fall, the team still believes it has what it takes to compete for a North Atlantic Conference title. Thomas was picked to finish third in the preseason coaches’ poll behind both Husson University and the University of Maine at Farmington, respectively.
“We’ve come out and we’ve surprised every team that we’ve played this year and I think we’re going to keep getting stronger,” Charrier said. “We’re going to do it to every team that we play.”
The Terriers improved to 2-3 on the season thanks to a 3-2 win over Simmons College Sunday afternoon, but their most impressive performance thus far this season came this past Wednesday against Colby College.
Thomas lost the game 4-2, but the Mules needed a pair of goals in the final seven minutes to hold off the Terriers. Over the past five seasons Thomas — who has never beaten Colby in field hockey — had lost by a combined 37-0 to the Mules and had not scored against them since 2009.
The phrase good loss may be as oxymoronic as they come in the world of collegiate athletics, yet the Terriers’ performance was certainly an encouraging one.
“This is probably one of the most talented teams that I’ve had since I’ve been here the past eight years,” Thomas head coach Andrea Thebarge said. “We’re really coming together. We played great team defense that game and I think that really helped us. Then we capitalized when we had those opportunities to do so.”
Fresh off the win over Simmons, the Terriers will look to continue their strong play this weekend when they face Mount Holyoke College and Plymouth State University on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, at New Hampton School in New Hampton, New Hampshire. Thomas will begin NAC play on Friday, Sept. 25 when it travels to Castleton.
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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