Isabel Hoyt would practice, practice and then practice some more. She made a habit of arriving early, routinely stayed late and rarely turned down an offer to put in some extra training on the side.
That work ethic was one of Hoyt’s best attributes during her time as a star on the Merrimack Valley field hockey team. Remaining true to it upon graduating in 2016, Hoyt was doing all the right things to get on the field and showcase her skill set at the college level for a fairly new Southern New Hampshire University program.
The dedication was there. The playing time was not.
Hoyt made three starts her freshman season, a few more during sophomore year and had sporadic appearances on the field last fall for the Penmen. She was contributing, just maybe not to the extent she had first envisioned when she stepped on campus.
“In the beginning it was a little weird because everyone who gets recruited comes in as one of the best players at their high school or as one of the players that had the most playing time,” Hoyt said. “You quickly realize that’s not the case (in college). There’s going to be 11 girls starting on the field and some of us are going to be on the sideline.
“But our coach is big on telling us to trust the process. So one day we might not get the playing time, but it doesn’t mean your hard work isn’t going to pay off,” Hoyt said. “I just kept trusting the process, kept trusting that working hard, putting in the extra sessions, staying late to practice – all those things were going to pay off, and they did.”
Hoyt is now reaping the rewards.
She’s right in the middle of Southern New Hampshire’s best season in the program’s six-year history.
Hoyt has started in 11 of 12 games as a senior midfielder, playing a key role in the 11-3 start for the Penmen, who earned their first national ranking ever after checking in at No. 9 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division II Poll.
“It was more that suddenly things clicked and she didn’t just start doing well, she started playing in an outstanding way,” SNHU field hockey coach Julie Munson said. “She does those little things so well that I can’t take her off the field.”
Quietly, Hoyt was impressing Munson the whole time.
The coach maintains a transparent relationship with her tight-knit group of players. And while Hoyt was showing well in practice in the early stages of her college career, there were still upperclassmen ahead of her on the depth chart and she wasn’t quite ready.
“She’s very open and honest,” Hoyt said. “I could literally go up to her and say, ‘Why didn’t I play this game,’ and she would be straightforward in terms of telling me this is what you need to work on, this is your role. Your time may not be now, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be ever.”
So Hoyt made impacts where she could.
As a first-year player, Hoyt finished with two points after scoring a goal in a victory over Saint Michael’s College – a goal that gave the Penmen their first conference win in program history. She appeared in 14 games as a sophomore and suited up for 12 more last season.
The playing time was slowly getting there and Hoyt was taking notes, even if it meant her role wouldn’t be the same as it was in high school.
“I got to see other players in my position and watch them maybe not be the scorers or be the starting center forward who gets three goals a game,” Hoyt said. “They weren’t the star player and I looked at how they handled it. I feel like that made it easier for me to handle it so when I got my chance, I wasn’t disappointed necessarily that I’m not one of our top scorers. It really doesn’t matter to me.”
It’s a lesson her former coach and longtime Merrimack Valley field hockey staple Kim Kenney says is an important one.
“It’s just such an inspirational story and one nowadays that needs to get out there more,” Kenney said. “We end up with so many people that think you don’t need to work hard to get what you want and that it’s just kind of given to you. But you really do have to work hard, you have to set goals, go after them and there’s going to be highs and lows.”
Kenney spent over two decades as the head coach of the varsity field hockey team at MV and knows the SNHU program well. Several past Pride players have gone on to play for Munson and the Penmen, including Cassidy Huckins, Erin Frost and Margaret Dougherty.
Hoyt is just the latest one finding success.
“Merrimack Valley had a great reputation for having hardworking student athletes,” Munson said. “When I first started watching coach Kenney over there and kind of direct her team, just observing from the outside what she was doing, it was clear to me that she had the type of student athletes that would fit in well to the culture I was looking to build.”
Hoyt is no longer the scorer she once was with the Pride. She simply isn’t asked to be.
The Penmen funnel their offense through senior Laura van der Doorn (11 goals), freshman Lisa Hagel (nine goals), junior Helene Servais (nine goals) and sophomore Emily Campbell (seven).
But Hoyt is a critical piece in the midfield, lending support to both an offense averaging 3.4 goals per game and a defense allowing less than one goal per contest.
“I think what (Hoyt) does really well is she plays her role to the best of her ability. She’s in the midfield so she’s got to contribute both on the attacking end and the defending end, and she does that,” Munson said. “She understands every move she makes, every time she adjusts her position or cuts or moves off the ball, she’s having some type of an impact on the field.”
Much like her ascension from the sideline to a starting role, Hoyt is just taking everything day by day as the Penmen soar into the postseason.
“We take it one game at a time,” Hoyt said. “We have high hopes and we always want to do better than we did last year. We believe in ourselves, that’s for sure. If we play field hockey the way we know, if we play SNHU field hockey, it should be a very good season for us.”
(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3371, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)