By Sam M. ’21

Rachel Place ’20 is a crucial member of the Winsor Varsity Field hockey team. Currently, she is one of the team’s three captains, and can be described as a leader both on and off the field. From a young age, Rachel fell in love with field hockey, and as a freshman, she “decided to try and play in college.” This dream came true over the summer when she committed to Trinity College to play field hockey. In regards to recruiting, she emphasized the importance of “worrying about your own process and timeline.” Despite her recruiting process being long and difficult, Rachel just “kept her head down,” and, in the end, she knew she “had to do what was best” for her and emphasized that “everyone’s recruiting is completely different.”

When asked about her favorite field hockey memory, Rachel said it would “100% be when we beat Pingree in overtime to go to NEPSAC finals last year. The team had worked so hard and in that game, we were playing for each other. We just played our game.” That year, WVFH went on to win NEPSACS for the first time in school history.  Although Rachel was not a captain that year, throughout all of her 4 years on varsity, she has constantly been a leader for everyone on the field. 

Rachel is also a role model in the eyes of her co-captains, Brianna F. and Ellie P. Ellie describes Rachel as a “role model for younger girls,” and she remembers when she first joined the team and Rachel was very “reassuring and helpful” towards Ellie. Brianna says Rachel is a “very loving and caring captain/field player”. Brianna and Ellie both agree that she “encourages us all to work hard and do our best.”

Additionally, on the field, Rachel plays the position of center back, which is one of the most important positions on the team because the center back has a view of the entire field and it is crucial that the center back communicates with the rest of the team. Unquestionably, Rachel fills the demands of this role because she is constantly “communicating helpful suggestions during games.” For example, Ellie speaks of how Rachel helps the team “know where to force or when midfield should transfer or where teammates are open for passes”. 

We look forward to seeing how Rachel’s field hockey career will continue to flourish in the future, at Winsor and Trinity.