Ann Dupuis Gets Her Reward at Last

Senior Ann Dupuis, captain of the Radcliffe field hockey team, has finally gotten her reward. "It's a dream come true," she says of her squad's 10-1-2 season, "and we deserve it."

Dupuis first came to the team as a freshman, with six seasons of hockey already behind her, only to be blasted off the field by Princeton and just about everybody else. "We were worthless," she says, "until Debi Field started coaching us."

But last season, although a solid "building year" under Field's guidance, was still discouraging. "Then we knew we could be good," says Dupuis, "but still we couldn't."

This year, they finally could. Dupuis says at the start of the season the team was resigned to yet another "building year" and hoped to win more than half the games--"but then we started winning them all."

"It feels so good," Dupuis says, especially for Karen Linsley and herself, the two seniors on the varsity squad who have been through so many losing games.

Cramped Quarters

They have also been through the years of changing in a tiny locker room at Palmer Dixon Tennis Court, with two showers for 30 players, and through the early days at Dillon, getting "dirty looks," having problems getting taped, and feeling "definitely unwanted." For them, acceptance at the field house is also part of their victory. "People ask us how we did when we come in now," says Dupuis, adding that "we feel like we finally matter."

They do matter, especially to teams playing on the same schedule, such as the football, soccer and rugby teams. The rugby players have been particularly attentive, often cheering them on from the neighboring practice field.

In addition, the rugby team sent them engraved invitations to a party last Saturday night, that read "There is more to athletics than what happens on the field" on the bottom, and presented them with jocks at the party, saying they had earned them.

Winning Is

But the attention and acceptance are still not as thrilling as winning. Dupuis recalls the crucial match against Northeastern, and watching their players, who started out "so sure of themselves" just fall apart and "get on each other for their mistakes" in a game that coach Field considered a real test of how good the 'Cliffe team was.

Dupuis says the Radcliffe players are all "very supportive" of one another, and never criticize one another's performance on the field. "We all take credit for the wins, and all take credit for the losses," she adds, "and we all get psyched for every game."

As captain, Dupuis says her job is to keep up morale, although it has been only a minor problem this year, even after the loss to Princeton. "We really came back after the loss," she says, "and outplayed ourselves in the next game."

The only other loss of the season was in the Northeastern College Regional Tournament, at which five of the Radcliffe players, including Dupuis, were picked for the first Northeast College "A'" Division Team. The first of a series of selections ultimately resulting in the National Field Hockey Team, this selection places Dupuis and her teammates on the same competitive level as their coach. Dupuis says the idea of playing Field, who plays for Boston 1, probably the best regional team, is "really wierd and very scary."

Not nearly as scary is the upcoming game against Yale, the last game of the season. Dupuis, sorry to be leaving the Radcliffe field after this year, is determined to make her last stand a good one. "I'm going to give it everything," she says; and she knows it is going to be enough.