University of New Hampshire Athletics
Freshmen Nicole Poulakis (left) and Tasmin Cookman celebrate another Wildcat goal. (Andrew Yourell photo)
10/12/2022 10:46:00 AM | Field Hockey, UNH Insider
Freshmen Forwards, Glidden Boost Balducci's Team
DURHAM, N.H. – They make for a prolific pair, said University of New Hampshire field hockey coach Robin Balducci, a recently inducted member of The 300 Club.
Freshmen forwards Tasmin Cookman and Nicole Poulakis are two of the top goal scorers in the America East Conference through UNH's first dozen games and they along with several others have added punch and speed to the team's attack.
"We've got some very, very talented young players, competitive young players," Balducci said. "What's making it work is we have good leadership, but they're not having to spend time to bring the young kids along in terms of intensity in practice, focus in practice. In terms of hockey IQ, the freshman are very good as a whole group, from top to bottom."
Cookman and Poulakis are at the top as far as scoring: between them they have 20 of UNH's 32 goals.
Cookman leads the team and is second in America East with 11 goals heading into Friday's 2 p.m. home game on Memorial Field against Vermont. Poulakis is close behind with nine goals, second on the team and fourth in the league. Cookman also leads the Wildcats with eight assists and Poulakis is second with five.
The Wildcats are an offensive roll at the moment and wins over Bryant, 5-0, Dartmouth, 5-2, and California, have boosted the team's overall record to 6-6. The Bryant and Cal triumphs even up the league mark at 2-2.
The Dartmouth win was career No. 300 for Balducci in her 32nd season as head coach.
"I said to someone it takes a village," Balducci said. "I've worked with lots of good staff and lots of good players. It's been a long haul. I'm most proud of the fact we've gone to, I think, the postseason in all but three years. I'm probably more proud of that accomplishment than the number of wins. I'm excited about that."
The 15 goals in the last three games bumped UNH's goals per game average to 2.7, which is third-best in the league. UNH averaged 1.8 goals per game each of the last two seasons.
"If you can score three goals a game, it makes you tough to beat," Balducci said. "If you can get close to three, you really put teams on their heels."
In Sunday's win over Cal, Poulakis, who's from Ajax, Ontario, had three goals.
Cookman had a hat trick the game before against Dartmouth, her second of the season.
"Cal was double-teaming Tas and Nicole had the three goals," Balducci said. "They're a pretty dynamic duo and it's pretty tough to shut them down completely."
Cookman and her twin sister, Tamera, came to the Wildcats from Woking, England. Tamera a back/midfield, has started each of the 12 games and is fourth on the team with three goals.
The Wildcats ability to not only play fast, but score, takes Balducci back a little over a decade to the 2011 team that won the America East tournament title and berth in the NCAA tournament. That group was led by Hayley Rausch and Whitney Frates, who were both seniors. Frates finished her career with 52 goals, second-best in school history, and Frates was a goal behind her.
That team averaged 3.6 goals a game and was 17-5 overall and 4-1 in league play during the regular season.
"The seniors that year, when they came in, were like this group," Balducci said. "They came in and played. Logged a lot of minutes and had a lot of talent, a lot of speed and scoring ability."
It all adds up to an exciting and promising time.
Leah Glidden, a senior out of Kittery, Maine who has a year of eligibility remaining after this season, is third on the team with five goals.
"It's been fun," Glidden said. "We've been focusing a lot on our small passing game so we can get more opportunities in front of the goal, capitalizing on those possessions. When you see the numbers, you get happy. The hard work is paying off. The practice we're doing with skills and teamwork is coming together."
The speedy Glidden ups the Wildcat fast factor.
"Leah has all kinds of speed," Balducci said. "Overall, we can play a faster game. We've got more speed in the midfield and everywhere. We're really fast on a lot of levels It's not just our forwards, but they're very fast."
The win over California jumped the Wildcats over the Golden Bears into sixth place in the league standings.
UNH has six games remaining, four of them league contests, starting with Vermont. Maine leads the league at 4-0 and UMass Lowell is 4-1 and then Vermont, Albany and Stanford are tied at 3-2, just in front of the Wildcats.
"It's a logjam, as it always is," Balducci said.
With their faster pace and improved scoring, backed by a defense led by senior goalkeeper Jemma Woods, the Wildcats are looking to crack that logjam a bit and move up in the standings to qualify as one of the six teams for the America East tournament with the best seeding position possible.
Besides Vermont, UNH has league games remaining at home against UAlbany on Friday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m., against UC Davis on Friday, Oct. 28 at and Sunday, Oct. 30 against Stanford at 1 p.m.
Freshmen forwards Tasmin Cookman and Nicole Poulakis are two of the top goal scorers in the America East Conference through UNH's first dozen games and they along with several others have added punch and speed to the team's attack.
"We've got some very, very talented young players, competitive young players," Balducci said. "What's making it work is we have good leadership, but they're not having to spend time to bring the young kids along in terms of intensity in practice, focus in practice. In terms of hockey IQ, the freshman are very good as a whole group, from top to bottom."
Cookman and Poulakis are at the top as far as scoring: between them they have 20 of UNH's 32 goals.
Cookman leads the team and is second in America East with 11 goals heading into Friday's 2 p.m. home game on Memorial Field against Vermont. Poulakis is close behind with nine goals, second on the team and fourth in the league. Cookman also leads the Wildcats with eight assists and Poulakis is second with five.
The Wildcats are an offensive roll at the moment and wins over Bryant, 5-0, Dartmouth, 5-2, and California, have boosted the team's overall record to 6-6. The Bryant and Cal triumphs even up the league mark at 2-2.
The Dartmouth win was career No. 300 for Balducci in her 32nd season as head coach.
"I said to someone it takes a village," Balducci said. "I've worked with lots of good staff and lots of good players. It's been a long haul. I'm most proud of the fact we've gone to, I think, the postseason in all but three years. I'm probably more proud of that accomplishment than the number of wins. I'm excited about that."
The 15 goals in the last three games bumped UNH's goals per game average to 2.7, which is third-best in the league. UNH averaged 1.8 goals per game each of the last two seasons.
"If you can score three goals a game, it makes you tough to beat," Balducci said. "If you can get close to three, you really put teams on their heels."
In Sunday's win over Cal, Poulakis, who's from Ajax, Ontario, had three goals.
Cookman had a hat trick the game before against Dartmouth, her second of the season.
"Cal was double-teaming Tas and Nicole had the three goals," Balducci said. "They're a pretty dynamic duo and it's pretty tough to shut them down completely."
Cookman and her twin sister, Tamera, came to the Wildcats from Woking, England. Tamera a back/midfield, has started each of the 12 games and is fourth on the team with three goals.
The Wildcats ability to not only play fast, but score, takes Balducci back a little over a decade to the 2011 team that won the America East tournament title and berth in the NCAA tournament. That group was led by Hayley Rausch and Whitney Frates, who were both seniors. Frates finished her career with 52 goals, second-best in school history, and Frates was a goal behind her.
That team averaged 3.6 goals a game and was 17-5 overall and 4-1 in league play during the regular season.
"The seniors that year, when they came in, were like this group," Balducci said. "They came in and played. Logged a lot of minutes and had a lot of talent, a lot of speed and scoring ability."
It all adds up to an exciting and promising time.
Leah Glidden, a senior out of Kittery, Maine who has a year of eligibility remaining after this season, is third on the team with five goals.
"It's been fun," Glidden said. "We've been focusing a lot on our small passing game so we can get more opportunities in front of the goal, capitalizing on those possessions. When you see the numbers, you get happy. The hard work is paying off. The practice we're doing with skills and teamwork is coming together."
The speedy Glidden ups the Wildcat fast factor.
"Leah has all kinds of speed," Balducci said. "Overall, we can play a faster game. We've got more speed in the midfield and everywhere. We're really fast on a lot of levels It's not just our forwards, but they're very fast."
The win over California jumped the Wildcats over the Golden Bears into sixth place in the league standings.
UNH has six games remaining, four of them league contests, starting with Vermont. Maine leads the league at 4-0 and UMass Lowell is 4-1 and then Vermont, Albany and Stanford are tied at 3-2, just in front of the Wildcats.
"It's a logjam, as it always is," Balducci said.
With their faster pace and improved scoring, backed by a defense led by senior goalkeeper Jemma Woods, the Wildcats are looking to crack that logjam a bit and move up in the standings to qualify as one of the six teams for the America East tournament with the best seeding position possible.
Besides Vermont, UNH has league games remaining at home against UAlbany on Friday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m., against UC Davis on Friday, Oct. 28 at and Sunday, Oct. 30 against Stanford at 1 p.m.
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