In Play(er) of the Week, our goal is to highlight outstanding Wesleyan athletes or moments from games that deserve extra attention.

Georgia Adams ’26 is a forward on the Wesleyan field hockey team. Last season, Adams finished second on the team in goals, and the sophomore has already doubled her goal total from the previous year, finding the back of the net 10 times in 9 games. Adams was sensational this past weekend, scoring three times as the Cardinals knocked off Hamilton and Trinity, giving the team their best overall start since 2010. Adams earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors for her performance, becoming the first Cardinal from field hockey to take home this award since 2010. The Cardinals continued their success, knocking off No. 5 nationally ranked Tufts on Wednesday; Adams notched a goal in the second quarter which put her first in the NESCAC in points. The Argus sat down with Adams to discuss her experience as a Cardinal, the historic start to the season, and the team’s unity.

 

The Argus: When did you first get into playing field hockey?

Georgia Adams: My mom played field hockey at Brown. She has always loved the sport. And my dad also played sports at Brown. So very athletic parents, they got me to start in sports very young. And my mom got me and my twin sister into field hockey. At sixth grade, I think we played for our town team. And we loved it, so we quit all of our other sports, and we played field hockey all throughout high school.

A: When did playing in college become a possibility?

GA: My twin sister always knew that she wanted to play in college; she took it a lot more seriously than I did from a younger age. I didn’t really decide I wanted to play until, honestly, my junior year of high school. Our high school field hockey team had gotten really good. I started getting really into the sport, and everyone started to tell me, “You could actually play in college if you wanted to.” And I hadn’t really actually thought of it. That had always been sort of my sister’s thing. So junior year was when I really started setting my mind, which is kind of pretty late in terms of deciding.

A: What was the recruiting process like, and what made you ultimately choose Wesleyan?

GA: I was looking at basically all the NESCACs, and Wes was actually the last one I visited. I honestly hadn’t thought of Wes. And so I visited in August for Wesleyan, and Coach [Christine] Kemp, she just gave a really good speech. She was like, “Listen, we’re not a very good program, at least on paper, and I know that you may be looking at the stats and like the standings, and you may be a little concerned, but that’s what makes this program so exciting. We’re the underdogs in every single NESCAC game we play.” And she’s saying that we’re only going up from here. Meanwhile, every other NESCAC school is very stationary. And I loved that, I love being the underdog, so that was appealing to me.

A: What’s your experience been like on the team so far?

GA: It’s been great. I think that what’s nice about being on such a rebuilding team is that each grade comes in and has a really big impact. And I was lucky enough to come in last year and be able to play. We had a senior on the team, Diana [Schwarz ’23]—she was really good, and she was a great mentor. And all the players were welcoming. A lot of freshmen had a big impact. And I think last year we went into season, and there was this really big energy of like, this is going to be the year that something big is gonna happen. And it didn’t really: We lost a lot of games by small margins. I think we left the season feeling really frustrated, because we knew we had all this potential, but we didn’t quite live up to it. And so I think this year, we really took that, and we kind of switched our game plan. And we’re just really focusing on team play and everyone playing a part, and I think that’s made a huge difference this season.

A: So you guys lost a lot of one-goal games last year, now you’re 6–2? What’s been a couple of things to make it so you’re winning those one-goal games?

GA: We had a really hard time whenever we would go down in games. We’d go down one goal and we would just fall apart emotionally. This year, I think the biggest difference has been just having confidence in ourselves. We’ve gone down in a bunch of games like Roger Williams, Colby—they all scored first. When we get scored on this year, I am not worried. I know we’re gonna come back.

A: What’s been one moment this year that has stood out in a game?

GA: I think that the biggest game so far was against Roger Williams. [Last year] they sent it to overtime and we won, which is good, but we were disappointed ourselves [because they scored with a minute left]. And this year, we were up to one, and they scored in a very similar situation with two minutes left to tie the game. I think last year we would have been like, “Ah, this sucks” and we would have responded poorly, but we scored with a minute left. And last year when they scored, I was freaking out, and then this year no one freaked out. We all rebounded. We scored a minute later and won the game. And I think that was this big moment for me at least, because I remember this exact situation happening last year. And I just knew that was like a huge deal for us to be able to like mentally come back from something like that.

A: You talked about mentally coming back—you guys lost to Middlebury. What do you guys think you can take from that game forward for the rest of the season? 

GA: I think every year playing Middlebury is really tough. We go in with a really good mindset each year, having a “nothing to lose” mindset. Because they’re obviously the best team in the country, and they have been for the last five years. And I think that as much as it sucks losing to Middlebury, it’s such a privilege to play such an amazing team. There’s so much that we can learn from them. Hopefully, at one point you will learn enough to beat them.

A: You won Player of the Week, the first Cardinal to win since 2010. How’d that feel when you found out and how does it feel now?

GA: I think the thing about Player of the Week is that it has almost more to do with the team than anything. I think that [the people who give out the award] are very goal-oriented. So I think they just pick the person that scores the most goals of the team of the week. It was our two biggest wins in a while, and I just happened to be the one that scored the goals. But those two games were like the best I’ve seen our team play since 2010, so I think that’s why we got the Player of the Week. We knew we had to stick to our game plan, and so it was definitely a culmination of a lot of hard work. So yeah, it was great, it was really satisfying for the team.

A: So you guys have three games this week, and then three more games after that. What is the approach and mindset going into this stretch?

GA: We play Tufts this Wednesday, and I think the thing that coach is focusing most on this year versus last year is that she wants us to be really process-oriented. So last year before NESCAC games, we had this tendency of being very stats-focused, very historic, like, “Oh, we beat this team last year, we can beat this team this year,” or “We lost to this team last year, it’s going to be hard to win this year.” She wants to focus way less on winning and more on just playing our game and doing what leads to the end goal of winning.

A: You mentioned the chemistry of the team and how vital that has been to the teams on field success, but obviously that has to come off the field too. What happens off the field that allows the team to click so well?

GA: We have a really young team, so it definitely feels like a level playing field. We have a lot of freshmen this year that are contributing in really major ways, and I think that they feel like they can be leaders on the team. I think that’s one of the most important elements that our team has. Even last year, I wasn’t afraid to speak up in a group huddle or encourage people. Everyone really feels like they can contribute, and that comes from all being friends outside the field. For example, bus rides to games, those are always so fun. There’s moments where we all have our headphones in and no one’s talking. And then one person will take their headphones out and start a conversation with the person across the row. And then all of a sudden, everyone’s headphones are out, and we’re all talking and laughing.

A: Last question, do you guys have any superstitions or traditions?

GA: I actually have this Nike ad—it’s an inspirational speech—and all throughout high school, we listened to it before every single game. And it’s all about being the underdog and how statistics do not predict the outcome of games. Anything can happen when you step on the field. And so when you’re thinking about new traditions to do before the games, I thought of this video, as it was perfect for our team since I think we have a lot more passion and we have a lot more grit than most teams. And although the stats are totally against us and everyone already has the outcome in their head, I think that we really want to defy those odds and we have what we need to. So we just turn the lights off. We play the little speech over the loudspeaker, and we all just sort of put our heads down and just really visualize the game and just get in the zone. We did that for the first time for Trinity, and it was good luck for me that we happened to win that game, because now everyone thinks it’s the key to our success. So we’ve played it before every game since then. So like three or four times. We’ll see if that continues, but that’s the new tradition. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Sam Weitzman-Kurker can be reached at sweitzmankur@wesleyan.edu.