HAVERFORD, Pa. – The 2011 outlook for the Haverford College field hockey team includes several promises.

The first of those promises involves the schedule which will provide greater challenges to a team that finished 14-5 and in the Centennial Conference tournament's championship game in 2010. On top of the conference slate, which includes Centennial champion and perennial national contender Ursinus College, the Fords will take on five opponents who played in last season's NCAA tournament. Topping that list is national runner-up Messiah College and the road gets only marginally easier with games against national quarterfinalists Eastern University and Lebanon Valley College. By the time the schedule rolls into late October, Haverford may be playing for NCAA tournament consideration when it travels to Christopher Newport University, a first-round participant in the 2010 national championship.

Another promise in 2011 is that the Fords won't be resting on their record-setting laurels of a year ago when the squad set numerous team scoring records on the way to a record number of victories. Head coach Jackie Cox knows that a team doesn't just pick up where it left off after its previous season. "Things just don't work that way," explains Cox. But the second-year leader also knows that the successes the team experienced has inspired confidence in the program especially for its junior- and senior-laden roster, many of whom have been in the starting line-up since their freshmen seasons.

"We've got three captains [Roxanne Jaffe, Margaret Selsor, Juliana Morgan-Trostle] whom I know will continue the mind-set of working the process rather than the result," said Cox. "On top of that, we've got nine starters returning including our top two scorers."

In truth, Cox has more than simply nine starters coming back in 2011. Of the 89 goals the team scored, 71 were by players that will take to the turf again in 2011. Morgan-Trostle led the team with 21 tallies followed closely by Mary Hobbs' 19 goals. Hobbs accumulated a team-high 52 points while Morgan-Trostle added 49, Selsor chipped in with 26 and Jaffe added 17 points. Sophomore Bryn Bissey also reached the double-digit mark in points with 14 in her first season with the program.

With so many returning players, the newcomers to the team will have their work cut out for them if any want to crack the starting line-up, but Cox feels confident that a few of the freshmen will find a way to make their mark.

One of the keys to success in 2011 will likely hinge on the ability of the squad to take another step forward in the program's progression, and Cox has provided the hurdles with such a challenging schedule. Another key will be the upper class leadership and experience that the captains and their peers will provide while trying to overcome those slightly-higher hurdles. If Cox's squad can respond positively to the promises in the preseason, Haverford could find its way deep into the conference tournament again, and perhaps — for the first time — find a spot in the NCAA tournament as well.