COLLEGE FIELD HOCKEY: NEWARK VALLEY’S DAY TO PLAY AT AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE (2022-03-17)

By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY — Newark Valley field hockey standout Phaedra Day will continue her career at American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The senior signed her National Letter of Intent to attend the Division II school Feb. 24.

American offered several amenities that drew Day’s attention.

“I went and visited the campus and I really liked how close-knit it was, and I loved the athletic facilities and the coaches, and all the support staff seemed really awesome,” she said.

Day also liked the training regimen the Yellow Jackets’ field hockey program offered.

“I like how they are more sort of intense with their training,” she said. “They train more often than I've experienced and that's really exciting for me to immerse.”

She likes to learn and wants to get better and is hoping those offerings will be a plus for the program.

There are other areas Day feels will be positives as well.

“I think my decision making so far has been pretty good,” she said. “There are times that could be better, obviously. It's not going to be perfect, but I could probably improve that consistency and my overall speed.”

“Phaedra is an experienced player who brings a love of the game and drive to succeed,” said NV coach Jessica Doehring. “She has great field vision and a natural ability to read and make plays.”

Day said she feels like she’s always wanted to play at the collegiate level.

“I've always been super involved in field hockey and been playing clubs since I was 10 years old, so I've always wanted to keep on playing as long as I can,” she said.

Day is a believer in the concept and hopes she will find that at American.

“It's super important to have a strong team dynamic, because if you all bicker with each other over little things, then it's going to be really hard to put in the work to make the game better and win games, so you’ve got to be teammates,” she said.

American is about 4 ½ hours away, which Day feel is a good distance.

“I wanted to go somewhere sort of far, but not too far, because I want to go to as many places that I can experience as much stuff as I can,” she said.

Day has some educational and athletic goals she hopes to attain down the road.

”Biology is going to give me like a basic thing to have a lot of options going out of college, maybe to get a Master's degree, to get a job, whatever,” she said. “And for field hockey, I would like to end up being a coach at some point, so just seeing what level and what works for coaching would be awesome.”

A midfielder, Day is one of 10 NV players named to the 2021 National Field Hockey Coaches Association High School National Academic Squad.

She is also a two-time All-Tioga County first-team all-star.

American is coached by 2011 alum Rhonwen Peters, who took over the program in 2017.

The Jackets are coming off a 6-12 season, but lose just two players and carry a youthful roster. Among their notable games last season were a 3-2 win over ninth-ranked Southern New Hampshire and a 1-0 setback against fourth-ranked Assumption College.

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