TOWSON, Md. – The 49^th season of Towson University field hockey is set to open Friday afternoon, Aug. 30, at Appalachian State. Two days later, the Tigers travel 100 miles to take on Davidson before returning to Baltimore for the home opener versus St. Francis on Friday, Sept. 6.  

Second-year head coach Katie Gerzabek Salem welcomes 12 newcomers, including 10 freshmen, to a team that won six games a season ago - the most since 2011. Twenty players return including leading scorer Sarah Hatfield, preseason All-Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) selection Ella Kaufman, three-year starting defender Madisyn Howard, starting midfielder Megan Popp and goalkeeper Tessa Scheenstra, who has amassed 222 saves the last two seasons. 

"I am really excited to get the season started," Gerzabek Salem said. "We have a lot of new faces who are making really big impacts right away. The competitiveness and culture that our returners put in during the spring has rubbed off on our newcomers."

Hatfield, who transferred to Towson from VCU before her sophomore season, returns for her fifth year. She scored nine goals with three assists in 2023 and earned Second-Team All-CAA honors. The Culpepper, Virginia native enters the season 20^th on the all-time scoring list with 34 points (15g, 4a).

Gerzabek Salem's first recruiting class features three players from The Netherlands – defender Roos Wiarda, midfielder Fiene Valkenburg, forward Anouk Westerink as well as Pennsylvania native Olivia Miller, who was recently invited to USA Field Hockey U21 Junior Women's National Team Selection Camp for the 2024-25 season.

"The three Dutch freshmen have come in and brought their international experience to our team and have upped the level of hockey IQ," added Gerzabek Salem, who helped the University of Maryland win a national championship in 2011 and spent more than a decade on USA Field Hockey national teams. "We are really excited about Olivia Miller. Those four are standing out but all the freshmen are bringing energy to help make this program better and wanting to change the history of it."

Gerzabek Salem added a pair of fifth-year players who will start on defense. Kristin Strijdom was a First-Team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) selection at Millersville University last season while Shannon Quaile helped Old Dominion to a 42-14 record the last three seasons, which included a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2023.

The captains for the 2024 season are Hatfield, Scheenstra, Kaufman and senior forward Lexi Bove.

SCOUTING APP STATE:
This is the third straight season and fifth time in the last six that Towson has played its opening game against App State. The Tigers will be looking to snap a six-game losing streak in the series after Towson won the first five games between the two teams.
App State went 14-5 a season ago and captured regular season the Mid-American Conference (MAC) regular season championship. The Mountaineers are picked second in the MAC preseason poll.
 
SCOUTING DAVIDSON:
Gerzabek Salem's first career victory at Towson was a 3-2 shootout win over Davidson. The Wildcats, who lead the all-time series 6-4-1, will be led by junior midfielder and Dutch international Sib Naaktgeboren, who was named to the preseason Atlantic 10 (A-10) all-conference team. She has a goal and three assists in two career games versus the Tigers.