In Northern California and across the country, the field hockey postseason is just getting started. Redwood reclaimed the MCAL title, Pleasant Valley swept both EAL crowns, and St. Ignatius, Stevenson, and Christopher finished league play unbeaten. Now sixteen teams head into the CCS playoffs, with quarterfinals this Saturday, November 7.
College field hockey is in postseason mode too, with Selection Sunday this weekend and NorCal athletes still playing for titles. Also in this issue: commitments to Dartmouth, Mercyhurst, Wellesley, and Bates, Level 2 coaches gathering in Berkeley, and winter playing opportunities to carry you through the rainy season.
Community Spotlight
Frankie Lemieux Heads to the Ivy League: Lick-Wilmerding junior Frankie Lemieux (SF Hawks) has committed to play Division I field hockey at Dartmouth. The 2025 MCAL Player of the Year, she has also earned national recognition, including a spot on MAX Field Hockey’s Class of 2028 Top 150. Known for lightning-quick hands and fearless creativity with the ball, Frankie has been a standout since joining the Hawks in 2020. Congratulations, Frankie!
Hailey Moncada Commits to Mercyhurst: Gilroy senior Hailey Moncada (Infinity) will play Division I field hockey in Erie, Pennsylvania. A four-year varsity player and two-time captain, she has anchored Gilroy’s back line as a lockdown defender, earning first-team All-BVAL Mt. Hamilton honors last year and a spot on The Field Hockey Analyst’s ‘26 high school watchlist. She joins a Lakers program that moved up to Division I in 2024 and competes in the Northeast Conference. Congratulations, Hailey!
Three NorCal Impact Seniors Head to New England: Three Class of 2027 club teammates have committed to play Division III field hockey. Leigh’s Clara Froemming and St. Francis’s Genevieve (Evie) Ferrini are both headed to Wellesley in Massachusetts, while Ferrini’s St. Francis teammate Carolyn Cordoni will play at Bates in Maine, where she’ll join her sister Sophia and former Lancer Samantha Enerio. Froemming earned first-team All-BVAL Mt. Hamilton honors last year, Ferrini was SCVAL De Anza Junior of the Year, and Cordoni was first-team All-SCVAL De Anza. Congratulations to all three!
Competition Recap
Rippers and Lightning Share a Play Day: Golden Gate Rippers hosted Lightning Field Hockey Club for a Play Day for U6, U8, and U10 players the last weekend in October at Redwood HS. Players from both clubs spent the day working on touches, learning, and having fun.
SF Hawks Take On the Midwest at Pumpkin Classic: A combined U12 and U14 Hawks team traveled to Chicago on October 25 for the annual Pumpkin Classic, facing clubs from Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky, and Illinois. The Hawks finished fourth in the Vampire Division (1-2-2), and their defense allowed just three goals in five games.
NorCal Boys Wrap Up Series in Mexicali: The U.S. U21 men’s three-game series against Mexico was played October 9-11 at Ciudad Deportiva in Mexicali, with six NorCal players on the roster: Gurmyn Gosal, Jovan Bains, Reid Smithwick, Kabir Mandir, Kethan Labana, and EkNaam Singh.
League Champions and the Road to CCS
Redwood Reclaims the MCAL Title: Tamalpais won the regular-season pennant, with University finishing second after a single loss to Tam and a 1-1 tie with Redwood in the final regular-season match. Both MCAL playoff semifinals finished 0-0 in regulation, with Redwood besting University in overtime, and Tamalpais outlasting Marin Catholic in a shootout. The final was a rematch of last year’s championship, but this time a late goal for the Giants gave Redwood a 2-1 win and the program’s seventh MCAL pennant. Read the full recap from the Marin Independent Journal.
Pleasant Valley Sweeps Both EAL Crowns: The Vikings went 9-1 for the regular-season title, then beat Bella Vista 2-0 in the Super Regional semifinal and Chico 3-2 in a shootout after a scoreless final. It’s their first Super Regional title and their second league title in three years, after a drought dating to 1985. The top three were closely matched all year: five of the six regular-season meetings between Pleasant Valley, Davis, and Chico were decided by a single goal or a shootout. Davis took second in the regular season, closing it with a 2-1 win on October 28 that handed the Vikings their only league loss, and placed third in the Super Regional.
There is no North Coast Section or Northern Section Playoff, so EAL and MCAL seasons are finished.
St. Ignatius Goes Perfect in De Anza: The Wildcats outscored league opponents 103-1 and swept #2 Saint Francis (4-1, then 1-0). The squad credits a “team first mentality,” and junior Olivia Van de Braak, an Iowa commit, has 36 goals and 37 assists. Their lone loss all season was 3-1 at Bishop’s on October 16. Bishop’s is the top seed in San Diego’s Open Division, making them the unofficial #1 in the state.
Mitty and Los Gatos Finish Dead Even in El Camino: Both teams went 13-1 and split their two meetings (Mitty 2-1 in overtime on September 24, Los Gatos 1-0 on October 20). Mitty seniors Emma Traverso and Bridget Schilb led the attack with 19 and 17 goals. In crossover games that helped seed CCS, Mitty fell 3-0 to St. Ignatius and Los Gatos lost 7-2 to Saint Francis. Palo Alto was third.
Christopher Runs the Table in Mt. Hamilton: Gilroy (8-2) and Leigh (5-4-1) followed Christopher’s 10-0 run to earn automatic CCS berths. In Santa Teresa, Prospect and Westmont both finished 9-1. Prospect hosted the play-in against Mt. Hamilton’s fourth-place team and lost 1-0 to Willow Glen, which took BVAL’s fourth automatic berth.
Stevenson Cruises to the PCAL Title: The Pirates went 12-0 in league with a +95 goal difference, and Hollister (9-2-1) took second. Carmel (8-3-1) finished third, just outside the automatic berths. Stevenson travels to Mitty as the #6 seed in Division 1.
The CCS Bracket Is Set: Sixteen teams play in two eight-team divisions, with quarterfinals Saturday, November 7, semifinals Wednesday, November 11, and finals Saturday, November 14. Follow the brackets here.
ACC Decision Weekend Splits the Bay
Stanford earned its ACC Tournament spot on decision weekend, beating Cal 2-1 and then getting the help it needed when Boston College upset Syracuse. The Cardinal’s 3-2 overtime win over No. 3 Duke on October 9 was their highest-ranked win in more than 25 years, followed by three straight ACC losses, with a 2-0 win over regional foe UC Davis along the way. The run ended Tuesday with a 6-0 quarterfinal loss to host North Carolina. Final record: 10-8, 2-6 in conference.
Cal just missed the tournament in a season of narrow margins. The Bears lost to Wake Forest when the Demon Deacons broke a scoreless tie with two minutes left, fell to No. 3 Duke in a shootout, and lost a shootout to No. 14 Syracuse on October 25 after a 1-1 tie through regulation and overtime. They also scored two late goals to beat Boston College. Boston College’s upset of Syracuse eliminated Cal, but junior forward Liz Klompmaker was named ACC Offensive Player of the Year. Final record: 9-7, 2-6 in conference.
UC Davis sophomore goalkeeper Addy Collingwood was named MPSF Defensive Player of the Week for the fourth time this season on October 27. The Aggies finished 3-12 and head to Newark, Delaware, for the MPSF Championships on November 6-7.
Playing Opportunities
- SF Hawks Winter Season: The Hawks will offer a range of skill-level-appropriate programs from beginner to advanced, including goalkeeper training and weekly indoor teams for players ready to speed up their game. Details
- Roseville Winter Pickup: Fridays and Sundays at Maidu Soccer Arena, December 4 through January 31. Youth play 5:30-6:30 PM and adults 6:30-7:30 PM. Register
- Small Group Training in San Francisco: Level 2 USA FH Coach Nick Saunders will be offering individual and small group training sessions at Paul Goode Field on Saturday afternoons this winter and multiple days a week in the Spring. Email cationathletics@gmail.com for more information.
- GoodCo Field Hockey Clinic, Chula Vista, December 12: GoodCo Sports brings small-group sessions with Division I coaches (including Stanford and UC Davis) to the Olympic Training Center on Saturday, December 12. Open to grades 7-12, with shooting and goalkeeping clinics and scrimmages. Register
- Cal 6s Tournament, March 5-7: Underhill Field, Berkeley. Save the date! More details coming soon.
Looking for more? Check out our Community Hub.
Coaching Corner
Level 2 Coach Certification Success: Former Cal head coach Shellie Onstead led a USA Field Hockey Level 2 clinic at Cal on October 24, with Coach Educator Pasindu Wanigasooriya assisting. Coaches and club representatives came from Roseville FHC, Hayward Hawks, Tracy FHC, Golden Gate Rippers, San Jose Khalsa, University HS, and Redwood, with Archie Williams and Tamalpais players serving as practice players.
2026 Virtual Indoor Coaches Forum (VICF): USA Field Hockey is excited to introduce a new event that puts indoor hockey in the spotlight, bringing the coaching community together to share ideas, explore the game, and inspire new approaches. Hosted live November 16-17, full package includes all recordings. Details.
What to Watch
Conference championships: Division I conference tournaments wrap up this weekend, and Division III tournaments are underway or starting. In the NESCAC, defending national champion Tufts, with SF Hawks and University HS alum Scarlett Carpenter, is undefeated heading into Saturday’s semifinals. In Division II, No. 3 Newberry, where Pleasant Valley alum Reagan Street is a freshman, went 12-0 in the South Atlantic Conference, entering the SAC tournament as the top seed.
Selection Sunday: The NCAA Tournament fields are revealed Sunday, November 8 on NCAA.com: Division III at 6 PM PT (18 automatic qualifiers and 10 at-large bids) and Division I at 7 PM PT (10 automatic qualifiers and 8 at-large bids). Division II’s eight-team field follows Sunday, November 15 at 5 PM PT.
The NCAA Tournament:
- Division I play begins November 13, with the first two rounds on campus sites, followed by championship weekend November 20-22 at Trager Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. The Division I semifinals are Friday, November 20 at 9 AM and 11:30 AM PT, and the national championship is Sunday, November 22 at 10 AM PT, all on ESPNU.
- Division III also holds its semifinals Friday and its championship Sunday at 9 AM PT, in Geneva, New York, with both streaming on NCAA.com.
- Division II finishes the season with semifinals Thursday, December 3 and the national championship Saturday, December 5 at 10 AM PT in Kansas City, Missouri, also on NCAA.com.
Track every game at Final Whistle.
Looking Ahead
Who will be crowned CCS Champions? Will Tufts go undefeated? Which NorCal athletes will be recognized as best-of-the-best? The next few weeks will bring plenty of answers. We’ll recap the playoff results in December and share all-league selections from every NorCal league as they’re announced. We’re also hoping to have lots of congratulations to pass along to our collegiate athletes, so if you know a NorCal player headed to the NCAA Tournament, let us know at admin@sticktogetherfh.com.
See you on the sidelines,
The Stick Together Team
