Field hockey freshman Alice O’Hagan impresses through major transition
Three goals in her first two games. A fourth goal the following weekend.
It is safe to say that Alice O’Hagan’s career at Central Michigan got off to a fantastic start.
The adjustment to playing at the Division I level while simultaneously embarking on the academic career can be difficult for any athlete. O'Hagan is dealing with the adjustment to CMU and the United States as a whole.
O’Hagan is from West Clandon, Surrey, England, a town about 30 miles southwest of London. She said that the transition has gotten easier as time has gone on.
“During preseason I found it a bit difficult,” O’Hagan said. "Just because it’s a new setting, a new style of coaching and just the way things run.”
Asking questions has been the way O’Hagan says she has been able to adjust. Head coach Catherine Ostoich and other international players such as senior Georgina Minta, who is also from England, have helped her understand how things work both on and off the pitch.
“At the start, it was a bit rocky, but now I feel I have settled in well,” O’Hagan said.
Minta has first-hand experience with a similar situation in coming from England to the United States.
Before coming to Central Michigan, Minta originally committed to Monmouth but did not play for the Hawks. Since arriving in Mount Pleasant, she has been a staple in the starting lineup.
The addition of O'Hagan to the roster has been welcomed by all. But Minta has especially enjoyed having another player from England in the program.
“Well she’s obviously from the motherland,” Minta said with a smile on her face. “I think it’s really helpful we have a team that’s quite big on international recruiting because obviously field hockey is quite a young sport in America.”
The field hockey team has two other international players on its roster. Neve Dibley is a freshman midfielder from Australia and redshirt junior Jasmine Banks is a Scotland native.
They all share that same experience and while the freshmen learn how to handle it on their terms. For example, O’Hagan FaceTimes her parents after nearly every match, while the upperclassmen offer their support and advice on being thousands of miles from home.
Minta also said that she expected the transition to be much more difficult for herself. In her experience, the schedule and overall busy life of a college student-athlete helped to lessen the change of being away from home.
O’Hagan has felt something similar.
“It was still a big step, but not as big a step as I thought it was going to be,” O’Hagan said. “It’s been a massive help having Georgi and Jas and Neve in my class as internationals. You’re all doing the same thing, if there’s something up you know you can talk to them, if you’re feeling homesick you know you can talk to them because you’re all going through the same thing.”
O’Hagan’s journey to CMU started with a company called Aspire USA. Aspire USA was founded by Holly Cram. Cram who is from Scotland, was a field hockey All-American from Richmond University - the same alma mater of Ostoich.
The mission statement from their website reads: “Our mission is to get to know our athletes and to learn about their personality as well as their sporting ability. We want to ensure that our clients are placed carefully in the University best matched to their needs.”
In other words, the company helps athletes from other countries who would like to play in the U.S. as a scholarship athlete get matched with colleges and universities across the country.
“I got an email from (Ostoich), and it kind of went from there,” O’Hagan recalled. “It just seemed like it was a good fit. Then we Skype called and then my dad and I ended up coming out and visiting in January and just meeting the coaches, all the girls and it just seemed like the best fit for me.”
Typically for a freshman coming into the team not much is expected in the first year, let alone the first few games. In O’Hagan’s situation, she was just happy to be in the starting lineup.
“In the locker room on our first game, I was very happy to hear that I was on the starting line,” O’Hagan said, laughing. “Then for my first like thing in the game was to score a short corner was pretty... 'Woah.'”
Despite O’Hagan’s surprise, Ostoich knew that strong play was inevitable for her touted freshman.
Ostoich said that O'Hagan's skills are impressive, but her mental game has exceeded expectations.
“She has an awesome shot and she is very threatening inside the circle,” Ostoich said. “All preseason we were telling her you’ve got to rip the shot, and then she’s come in and hasn’t really shown any freshman fear.”
To this point in the season, O’Hagan is currently in the top five in goals scored in the Mid-American Conference with four tallies and she has been named MAC Offensive Player of the Week once in the opening week of the season.
O’Hagan is setting the bar high for what figures to be a fantastic career as a Chippewa.
