Williams’ field hockey team had a banner year in the 2024 season, racking up 16 wins—the most in one season in the program’s history—and reaching the Final Four of the NCAA Division III Tournament in November, where they lost to Tufts 1-0 in overtime. They were the number-two seed in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship. Individual accolades poured in as three team members earned honors on the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division III All-American teams, and five earned NFHCA Region II honors. NESCAC named goalkeeper Ellie Smith ’28 Rookie of the Year, defender Pilar Torres ’26 and forward Kiki Higgins ’26 as First Team honorees, and midfielder Linda Bibeau ’25 and Meaghan Boehm ’25 as Second Team honorees. And head coach Alix Barrale ’93 and assistant coach Kate Lenox were named NESCAC’s Coaching Staff of the Year.

What has been their secret to this year’s successes?

Barrale considers the possible reasons over coffee at Tunnel City, where several team members stop by to say hello and chat briefly with her. She first credits her players, saying she’s proud of those who have earned recognition and the team’s strong senior leadership. But she emphasizes that each person is valuable, even if they’re not playing. As one of them says goodbye and exits the coffee shop, Barrale smiles and says, “She doesn’t get to play much, but she has a lot of energy and enthusiasm. She’s such an asset to the team.”

After participating in field hockey as a student at Williams—in addition to lacrosse, ice hockey, and track and field—Barrale earned a master’s degree in exercise and sport studies from Smith College, coached field hockey and lacrosse at Denison University, and returned to Williams as field hockey coach in 2000. The ties to Williams have always been strong for her; two of her current team members are the daughters of her own teammates from college.

Barrale strives to build connections among her players, acknowledging the stress they’re under as students and their need to find a supportive community while in college. Often she finds herself in the role of therapist and mentor—and loves that the athletes trust her to that degree.

A few years ago, she started journaling daily about things she was grateful for in her personal life, and she found that the routine helped her stay grounded. So she brought it to the team before practices, asking each person to write something they were grateful for in their own journal. That was so successful that she added a check-in with some other prompts: “I will focus on…” and “I will let go of…” It helps them share and recognize when they may all be stressed about the same things, she says. And that’s important, because they need to learn how to navigate so much more than just field hockey.

Torres, a statistics major from Madison, N.J., who has played field hockey since the fourth grade, appreciates the exercise. “We have so much going on throughout the day with classes and other work and social commitments,” she says. “I actually think it would be kind of odd now to just step onto the field without meeting with [Barrale]. In high school, I would do that, but it’s different at Williams because our whole lives are there, so it’s important to be able to have dedicated spaces for our activities.”

Boehm, a biology and political science double major from Millburn, N.J., describes another of the team’s activities called “Bring the Joy” that began in the summer of 2024. While they were on break, Barrale encouraged them to send in videos updating one another about their summer. This continued into the fall, when team members took turns bringing in something to inspire the team before practice. Boehm says people shared videos, quotes, acronyms, stickers, and even wrote poems. “It was a great way for the team to connect and get motivated,” she says.

Bibeau, a history and biology major from Danvers, Mass., says the gratitude journaling helps keep things in perspective, and she and her teammates take it very seriously. A competitive athlete who played field hockey for the first time in ninth grade and made the varsity team the next year, Bibeau has spent all four of her college years under Barrale’s leadership. She credits Barrale for cultivating an environment among players that is “highly competitive externally and collaborative internally.” She adds, “We all obviously want to win, but we never do so at the expense of having fun or supporting each other. … Especially this year, that fun and supportive environment is essential to our success on the field.” Boehm agrees: “Her excitement for competition is inspiring … [but] she prioritizes the physical and mental health of her players.”

Barrale says that her approach to coaching has changed over the last 24 years, as she herself has grown and changed, not to mention become a mother of four. In middle age, a lot of things have become less important as her priorities have shifted. Earlier in her career, she says, it was all about winning. Now, she tells the team, “‘Let’s keep winning so we can spend more time together.’ That’s the goal.”

Read more about the team’s NFHCA All-American and Region II honors on the Williams website as well as a pregame article in The Berkshire Eagle as they headed into the NCAA Final Four.

Photographs by Elsa Martin ’25

Regina Velázquez is an associate editor and senior writer in Williams’ Office of Communications.