Whether off wood or metal, the sound is unmistakable when a field hockey ball hits the back of the cage.

“It’s one of the most rewarding parts of offense,” Messalonskee senior Emily Hogan said.

And it’s one Hogan has heard many times throughout her prolific career. This year alone, she heard it 25 times as she helped the Eagles to an unbeaten regular season and a top seed in the Class A North tournament.

It’s taken Hogan years of practice to get where she is today, a Miss Maine Field Hockey nominee and a Division I recruit. And she’s not done yet as she prepares for a second phase in her career at American University.

For her performance this season, Hogan is the Morning Sentinel Field Hockey Player of the Year. Teammate and midfielder Riley Field and Skowhegan goalie Leah Kruse were also considered.

Hogan spent the first 10 years of her life in Australia where she picked up the game at an early age and got a chance to see the men’s and women’s national teams play and make an impression on her.

Advertisement

“Field hockey’s huge in Australia,” Hogan said. “People there start earlier. I started to enjoy it as I kept playing.”

Hogan has played a little defense and a little midfield, but offense is her forte. She’s perfected her skills to this point as well as anyone in the state.

“Emily was definitely our biggest offensive push,” Messalonskee coach Katie McLaughlin said. “Her speed and ability to dribble through traffic is incredible.”

Hogan often resembles an ice hockey player weaving through defenders, a considerable comparison given field hockey players are limited to using one side of the stick. Tall and quick, Hogan is a talented athlete, but it’s been hard work that’s taken her to another level of play, not only with the Eagles or the Maine Majestix, but also on her own.

“Whenever Emily has a spare afternoon or evening, she’s at a field hockey field,” McLaughlin said. “She has a great work ethic and such a passion for the game.”

Hogan is quick to point out she’s surrounded by a talented team that lost just one regular-season game the past two seasons. But even among here peers she often stands out as she slips past defenders with the ball on her stick.

Advertisement

“I figured out you can’t really dribble straight,” she said. “That’s when I decided you have to have different types of pulls and different types of deceptions.”

Hogan is always up for trying something new to improve her game. She recalled seeing a reverse chip — a shot that allows the shooter to score wherever you’re stationed in front of the goal. She first saw it at a summer camp and admits it didn’t come easily to her.

“That shot in particular I’ve been wanting to learn for a long time,” she said. “I worked on it on my own.”

She finally got a chance to use it against rival Skowhegan last season and it’s been part of her repertoire since.

“She has a great reverse stick shot that’s unusual for girls this age,” McLaughlin said.

Her stick work is what took Hogan to another level this year, McLaughlin said, as well as her decision making. In addition to her goals she recorded nine assists, often passing up a decent shot of her own for a better one by one of her teammates.

Advertisement

“Her decision making is just as fast as her feet,” McLaughlin said.

The mental aspect of the game is one that intrigues Hogan, and McLaughlin said this will be her greatest challenge as she moves onto the college game.

“The sky is the limit for her,” McLaughlin said.

Hogan is still playing with the Majestix and will play Futures in the spring and plans on continuing to work as often as possible to prepare for next fall, when she will attend American University in Washington, D.C.

“I want to get my shots off one second faster,” she said.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.