Adjusting stateside: Freya Ward

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Bryant field hockey sophomore Freya Ward has dazzled in her first two seasons with the Bulldogs. The midfielder has scored nine goals in her collegiate career, including four on just six shots in 2017. A pair of game-winning goals and a defensive save and the recipe for greatness is there.

But Ward's introduction to Bryant was unique one: she signed a National Letter of Intent with the Bulldogs after her sixth year of secondary school at Burgess Hill Girls School in England. When she moved in to Bryant, it wasn't just a drive down the freeway, but instead, a series of flights.

"I flew from Australia to England to America within the span of 72 hours," Ward said. "I wasn't really sure what was going on."

Prior to moving in, the Haywards Heath, West Sussex native hadn't actually visited the school. She learned a lot online, she said, and had Skype conversations with previous head coach Shaunessy Saucier about playing for the Bulldogs. She didn't think it would be that big of a deal until she needed to get her student ID.

"I had never visited Bryant," Ward said. "I literally arrived, and Shaunessy told me I had to get my student ID at Fisher (Student Center). I thought, 'what is Fisher?'"

But Ward quickly adapted. Her team, smaller than most field hockey teams, became a family and quickly welcomed her to Bryant, Rhode Island, and the United States.

"Since I've been here," Ward said, "we've never had more than 20 people on the roster. I think that's why we're so close. We're always together and spend a lot of time together."

That closeness on the field helped Ward translate to the American style of play, which Ward said was shockingly different than the style of hockey that she grew up playing across the pond. In England, the style of play Ward learned was more possession-based, a game in the middle third of the field, a different style than she was learning at Bryant.

"You're always moving and building up for a goal," Ward said. "When I started in America, it was more attack and then recover."

The on-field differences were just the tip of the iceberg for Freya. Despite spending five months away from home before moving to Bryant, the sophomore said that she missed home a lot more than she thought she would.

"I didn't think I was going to miss home so much," she said. "Before, I was away having fun every day and traveling. I wasn't under pressures of school or performing well on a team. It was a big difference."

One of the things that helped, she found out, was confiding in a teammate who knew what she was going through. Classmate Floor van Dommelen was also a freshman, also abroad – Floor is from the Netherlands – and also going through the same bumps that Ward was.

"Having Floor was a massive help for me," Ward said. "The first semester freshman year, we definitely got each other through because there were times that it was very stressful and we were overwhelmed with schoolwork and traveling. We both missed home."

That season, Ward scored five goals and added an assist to total 11 points in her first season. She was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week on Oct. 18 of that season after a two-goal week.

After the season, Ward and the team found out that Saucier was resigning as the field hockey head coach, an announcement that shocked the team.

"As a team, it was a massive surprise," Ward said. "I don't think anyone on the team expected it. When she did hold the meeting and told us, we were all a bit in shock. At dinner that night, we all said we were going to get through this as a team. Whatever happens, happens. A coaching change could be good, it could bring a new style of play."

Over the summer, Bryant brought in now-head coach Joppe de Vries as the leader of the program. de Vries had come in from Maryland, traditionally a top-5 team in the polls, and had experience with national teams. The announcement got the team excitied to see what was next for them.

"When we knew it was Joppe, everyone was excited," she said. "Once everyone settled down became more comfortable with him and he became more comfortable with us, I definitely think that we all liked the change."

It was an adjustment that the team made together, and in Ward's time, that's been a common theme: togetherness. The team has gone with the punches together, grown together, supported each other together. They've won together, lost together, but at the end of the day, Ward says that that's what makes this team so close. "Something that Joppe has always emphasized, and Shaughnessy did as well, is that you're going to rely on these girls for everything, as well as field hockey," she said. Anything you need help with, these are the people that you're going to go to first.

"I think that's why we are so close, we're not afraid to ask each other for help. If we need help, we go to each other straightaway."