Coach Selected for Olympic Honor
Field hockey head coach Allison Fordyce was one of two coaches selected nationwide by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association to travel to Europe for the XXXIII Olympic Summer Games. She will participate in clinics in the Netherlands with the top coaches in the world before attending Olympic field hockey matches in Paris, France, and engaging in tactical discussions with master coaches.
“The Olympics are the pinnacle of sport,” she says. “I will be surrounded by the highest level of athletes and coaches, yet we are all connected for our love and passion for field hockey. So many of the Olympic players are from Pennsylvania, so I think that seeing our state represented will also be very inspiring.”
Fordyce was selected for the Olympic honor through a competitive application process — one she almost didn’t enter, she said, on the assumption she wouldn’t win. Fordyce said her doubts and ultimate success should be a lesson for up-and- coming athletes.
“Young athletes today often think they must be a D1 athlete to receive a scholarship or play for the best club to be perceived as successful. I had the same thoughts as I debated applying for the scholarship,” Fordyce recalls. “I want to inspire my players to go for it — whatever that is for them.”
I want to inspire my players to go for it — whatever that is for them.
– Allison Fordyce
In 2023, Fordyce and her staff were named the Landmark Conference Coaching Staff of the Year after the River Hawks won the Landmark Conference championship and a NCAA Tournament berth. She and assistant coaches Kirby Szalkowski, Alyssa Broadt and Ashtin Midkiff guided Susquehanna to a 15–5 overall record and 8–1 in conference play to earn the top seed in the Landmark Field Hockey Tournament. In the championship match, the River Hawks defeated Scranton 2–1 in a penalty shootout to secure the program’s second Landmark title and automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.
