ITHACA, N.Y. -- A season ago, the Cornell field hockey team opened the year watching a construction zone, training in Barton Hall and the Ramin Room before finally getting onto the new Marsha Dodson Field home turf the day before its 2025 Ivy opener. This fall, the Big Red returns to a program that already knows what stability feels like - and one that, by its own coach's estimation, has never been deeper.
"We're a very balanced team this year, and I think that makes us fun to watch and makes for a very exciting season," said head coach Andy Smith, whose team was selected fourth in the 2026 Ivy League Preseason Media Poll. "It doesn't matter if somebody doesn't have a great game — we've got so many people now that can pick up the slack. We've never been as deep as we are now, and I think that's really good for us. We're very comfortable where we are. We're in a good place to do some really special things this season."
The Big Red brings back the bulk of a team that went 11-4 (4-3 Ivy) a season ago, tying for third in the league behind a defense and offense that ranked among the nation's best — Cornell led the country in penalty corners per game (10.53) and finished among the top 12 nationally in assists per game, points per game, shutouts per game and winning percentage. Third-team All-American Uma Käding, who tied for the Ivy League's regular-season goal-scoring lead, headlines four Big Red players — joined by senior Julia Ramsey, sophomore Colomba Infante and freshman Rebecca Block — each named to the NFHCA Preseason Watch List.
But the headline of Smith's fall camp isn't just who's back — it's how many. Six freshmen join the program this year, and they're paired with five key returners who missed the entirety of the 2025 season: junior captain and starting goalkeeper Martha Broderick, classmate Polly Parsons, sophomore midfielder Shea Larkee, senior co-captain captain Ashley Plzak and junior midfielder Delaney Keegan.
"We introduce six freshmen this year, and then we brought Martha, Polly, Shea, Ash and Delaney back — so there's 11 new faces," Smith said. "None of those 11 left this program after October 1st last year — they were either injured or out all year. So we actually have 11 newcomers. It's basically a full new team when you think about the quality that's come back and the quality in the incoming freshman class. You'll see more of the same identity, but I just think we're better all around."
That identity, Smith said, remains built on speed and pressure — but with more variety than in years past.
"I think you'll see a very fast, high-pressure-oriented game," Smith said. "We've got more strings to our bow than we ever had before. We can sit in deep and absorb pressure, which we never could do before. We've got the ability to play on the counter-attack, which we're a lot better at now than we were last year. I think we're a year more mature as well."
Cornell's fall camp has centered on a simple team mantra.
"Do your job," Smith said. "She does her job, I do my job — nobody has to worry about covering for anybody else. It might sound selfish, but it's actually the most unselfish thing in the world, because if everybody does their job well, we don't have to worry about what our teammates are doing. We're all in it together."
The program also added two new voices to its coaching staff this offseason in assistants Maite Sturm and Caroline Ramsey '23. Sturm arrives after two seasons at Temple, where she helped guide the Owls to consecutive winning campaigns, and was a two-time All-American as a player at VCU. Ramsey, a former Cornell captain and the program's single-season and career scoring-record holder, returns to Ithaca on a temporary basis before rejoining the U.S. national team.
GOALKEEPERS
Letterwinners returning (2): Martha Broderick, Tayla Williams
Newcomers (1): Claire Pausz
Team captain Martha Broderick returns to the net after missing all of 2025. A two-time All-Ivy League selection who set a Cornell freshman record with 12 wins in 2023, Broderick gives the Big Red back a proven winner between the pipes. She's joined by junior Tayla Williams, who saw limited action a season ago, and freshman Claire Pausz, the reigning New Jersey Shore Conference Player of the Year who arrives as one of the most decorated goalkeeping recruits in the country.
DEFENDERS
Letterwinners returning (3): Sophia Grimm, Chloe West, Sarah Burns
Newcomers (1): Mallory Walker
The back line returns its anchors from a season ago in sophomores Sophia Grimm and Chloe West, who helped Cornell to five shutouts as true freshmen in 2025 — two shy of the school record. Senior Sarah Burns brings experience to the group, while freshman Mallory Walker, a 6-foot-1 four-year captain at Greenwich Academy, adds size and pedigree to the unit. Senior Julia Ramsey will again be expected to split time between the back line and midfield and could be joined by Polly Parsons.
MIDFIELDERS
Letterwinners returning (10): Julia Ramsey, Rease Coleman, Emma Poplyk, Annabel Cheveley, Delaney Keegan, Colomba Infante, Shea Larkee, Clara Rogers, Emmy Horner, Polly Parsons
Newcomers (4): Allison Plzak, Megan Devletian, Rebecca Block, Gracie Buxton
Cornell's midfield is its deepest position group, headlined by senior Julia Ramsey, who led the Ivy League and ranked sixth nationally in assists per game a season ago. Senior Rease Coleman, an honorable mention All-Ivy pick in 2025, and veterans Emma Poplyk, Annabel Cheveley and Colomba Infante — an NFHCA Preseason Watch List honoree — provide a proven foundation. The group gets a significant boost from the return of Delaney Keegan, Shea Larkee and Polly Parsons, each of whom missed all of last season. Freshmen Rebecca Block — a decorated NFHCA Preseason Watch List selection and U.S. youth national teamer — Allison Plzak, Megan Devletian and Gracie Buxton round out a group built for both depth and dynamism.
FORWARDS
Letterwinners returning (5): Ashley Plzak, Amanda Park, Blake Wilks, Stella Thibeault, Uma Käding
Junior Uma Käding headlines the group after a third-team All-America season that saw her lead the team in goals, points and shots. Team captain Ashley Plzak returns to the front line after missing all of 2025, joined by juniors Blake Wilks and sophomores Amanda Park and Stella Thibeault.
SCHEDULE OUTLOOK
Cornell opens the season Sept. 4 against La Salle at Marsha Dodson Field before a stretch of road games at Bucknell and Lafayette. Ivy League play begins Sept. 18 at home against Columbia, with a schedule that includes home dates against Princeton — the 2025 national runner-up — and UConn, along with a trip to Harvard, which reached last year's national semifinal.
The Big Red will play a full season on Marsha Dodson Field for the first time, with construction now underway on the next phase of the Cornell Field Hockey Complex — a team clubhouse and indoor training facility that is slated for completion in the summer of 2027.
"For our program, this is truly transformational," Smith said of the facility upgrades. "Having a dedicated facility, along with an indoor training center beside our competition field, changes everything — how we train, recover, prepare, recruit and build our environment."
