Campus Currents

Sports Shorts UNH Sports Updates

FIELD WORK: Three athletic-training students from Dublin, Ireland, got more than clinical experience during their fall semester at UNH: they also got a taste of American sports. In most other countries, including Ireland, athletic trainers only see athletes when they visit a clinic. During their stint at UNH, Orlaith Munnelly, Rachael Yorke, and Mairead Power were front-and-center for both football—the American kind—and ice hockey, a sport that's all but unheard of in the United Kingdom. They taped ankles, applied ultrasound, and worked with experienced UNH trainers to treat athletes in—and sometimes on—the field. The trio returned to Dublin City University in December, but not without leaving their own stamp on UNH: in addition to sharing some of their own training techniques with their Durham peers, they introduced some of their classmates to such Irish sports as Gaelic football and hurling.

AMERICA EAST CHAMPS: In November, the women's volleyball team capped one of its strongest seasons in recent history with an America East championship, its first title since 2003. Playing at home, where the team enjoyed a 12-1 season, the Wildcats rallied past the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, to win in five sets. The victory earned the team an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I tournament, where the Wildcats fell to nationally ranked USC Women of Troy on December 5. The loss marked the team's fourth NCAA tourney appearance and closed out head coach Jill Hirschinger's seventh 20-win season with UNH.

The field hockey team also claimed an America East championship title in November, securing a 3-2 victory over the University of Albany on November 9. Paced by a two-goal effort from Hannah Richard '14, the victory completed a six-game winning streak and marked the squad's second tourney title in three years. Though it fell to Duke University in the first round of the NCAA Division I playoffs, the team closed out a perfect season of 5-0 in America East conference play.

Women's cross country made it a trio of America East titles for women's fall athletics teams, the squad's second ever and first since 2003. The team's victory comes after finishing second in the conference championships for the prior three consecutive seasons. Earlier in the season, the harriers also secured the New England Championships crown. Elinor Purrier '17 paced the Wildcats in both efforts, though head coach Rob Hoppler describes both victories as a complete team effort. "I couldn't be happier with how hard the whole group worked this year," he says.