Rock Field Hockey History
The Slippery Rock University women’s field hockey program had a winning season in each of its first 18 seasons of existence.
Headlining that string of success was the 1987 season, in which The Rock won a school-record 14 games, played in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship game and earned a No. 10 national ranking.
That same squad earned a best-ever top-10 national ranking and placed second in the NCAA Division III Eastern Regional tournament hosted by The Rock.
Standout performers on that 1987 squad included Chris Peuplie, who earned All-American honors a year later, and Missy Martin and Jenny Wregg, both of whom joined Peuplie on the 1988 All-PSAC team.
Martin, Peuplie and Wregg were key ingredients on The Rock’s 1988 team that finished the season with a 10-3-1 record.
The back-to-back success of the 1987 and 1988 teams helped The Rock record a .591 winning percentage from 1970-80. During that span, The Rock won 66 games and tied five in 116 chances.
The 1987 and 1988 teams, coached by former Rock multi-sport standout Jan Kasnevich, still stand as two of only three Rock teams to have recorded double-digit win totals.
The trend-setting season was a 10-3-1 campaign in 1976, the first season in which The Rock competed as a varsity sport.
Dr. Patricia Zimmerman, “the mother of Rock field hockey,” was The Rock’s first varsity field hockey coach.
Dr. Zimmerman coached The Rock field hockey team from 1961-83. In her first 18 seasons, she never had a losing season.
The inaugural varsity season culminated in an eighth-place finish at the 16-team Regional Collegiate Championships.
In its second season as a varsity sport, The Rock had a 7-7 record and qualified for the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (EAIAW) regional tournament.
The following year, a 6-2-2 mark earned The Rock a berth in and host role for the EAIAW Mid-Atlantic Satellite Regional Tournament.
Prior to becoming a varsity sport in 1976, Rock field hockey carved out an impressive niche for itself.
Kasnevich was one of three Rock players in the mid- to late-1980s who earned a spot on the prestigious U.S. All-Star Field Hockey team.
Joining her on that elite roster were Jan Hollack and Sue Myers.
A decade earlier, four Rock players – Audrey Davison, Sue Everden, Ann Motyka and Barb Watson – were members of the Mid-East all-star team that won the 1975 national title.
Five other Rock players earned spots on rosters of teams competing in the tournament during which the Mid-East squad was selected. Included in that group were Sally Benedict, Cathy Copeman, Jane Machuga, Cindy Taylor and Ione Wenrich.
