Drexel Women’s Field Hockey Reflects on Third-Ever CAA Championship

Drexel Women's Field Hockey Reflects on Third-Ever CAA Championship

• Breaking through the Ice Ceiling at the Olympics
• From Drexel to the Olympics: The Legacy of Thailand's First Winter Olympian
• Dragons Support West Philly on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• Drexel's Winter Tradition Returns in 2026

When the women of Drexel University's field hockey team gave up a goal in their Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) championship game against Monmouth University, they took a deep breath. They'd been here before, in deeper holes in other games, but they knew who they were - a gritty, dogged team who'd learned from those other games and stayed strong through the highs and lows of the 2025 season. So they didn't panic. And then they won, becoming the CAA's champions for just the third time in program history.

"They scored on us and I wasn't even worried," said Valentine Van Hellemont, exercise science '27 in the College of Nursing and Health Professions. "We knew this was going to happen, but it's about how we reset afterwards. We just kept playing our own game. It's important that in the most important game of the year, a team can feel that confident and have trust in each other. For me, that was probably the best feeling of the tournament."

The Dragons took down Northeastern University in the semifinal to make it to the CAA Championship game, where they faced Monmouth University. The Dragons attacked early, going up 1-0 at halftime and surviving Monmouth evening the score to eventually win 3-2. They then traveled to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012, where they lost to St. Joseph's University.

"Throughout this entire season, pushing them and having them push themselves and each other, even when we had ups and downs, I was confident we could win a CAA Championship," Associate Head Coach Bennettsaid. "We'd lose a game, and I'd be like, 'All right, we have to learn from it and we're going to win.' Every single loss we had played a role in who we became and the ability to win a CAA Championship."

Coach Denise Zelenak said she tries to create a family within her team, a space where they can be authentic and honest. That helps when the ups and downs of the season inevitably come, as they did in 2025. A new season always feels like a complete restart. Both midfielder Van Hellemont and center back Natali Foster, business administration '26 from the Bennett S. LeBow College of Business, started playing in different positions than they normally do, which made things feel frustrating at first.

"I don't usually play center back, but my teammates were there for me and I wouldn't have been able to play that role without them," Foster said. "My teammates just picked me up after every bad pass or bump in the road. There were times I didn't want to be in that position, but we all still did it for each other and for the team. That was our motto all season - 'I'm doing it for the team' - and it ended up playing out really well. We all came together."

Even as the athletes grew in their individual roles, the team grew as a family and grew together through their losses. Zelenak said that as a coach, you know when you have talent, but it's a different kind of special to see them take ownership of their play.

"When they truly trust each other and let go, that is what every coach hopes for their athletes," Zelenak said. "It's corny but they believed."

Ciufo-Bennett, an alumna of the team who won the CAA regular season and first round of the NCAA tournament when she was a student-athlete, said she talks a lot about her experience with the current players - and a lot about winning.

"Even when we had ups and downs, I was confident the whole season that we could win a CAA championship," Ciufo-Bennett said. "Every single loss played a role in who we became. Winning is part of why we're here. But something that meant even more to me was the evolution of every single player on our team in terms of who they were as a person."

The Dragons lost to the Huskies of Northeastern University in the regular season, and were facing them again in the semifinal. Foster remembers the regular season loss as a physical ache, which was echoed by her teammates. The sting of that loss propelled them through the game, catapulting them to the championship once more.

To be sure, they didn't lose this time, though they did give up two goals towards the end of the game. But Foster said that was a blessing in disguise - if they hadn't had that experience in a high-stakes game, they might've freaked out when it happened again in the championship game against Monmouth.

The team stayed confident throughout the game - Ciufo-Bennett, who said she usually looks to see what's going wrong in a game, didn't even feel stressed. The confidence in themselves and each other helped them all stay calm and find solutions throughout the game. Every player went out there and did their job, Ciufo-Bennett said. In the end, they were rewarded with their third-every CAA championship. Van Hellemont was named CAA Tournament MVP, and Foster, along with Marti Sanabria and Anna Castaldo, was named to the CAA-All Tournament Team.

"Getting the recognition feels great, but getting MVP during the championship tournament wouldn't have happened without my teammates," Van Hellemont said. "They make me better, I make them better, and that again defines what our team is. Our whole season was kind of up and down, and I really believe that if our season didn't go like this, we wouldn't have ended there. Every game prepared us to win that last game, especially our semifinal."

They had minimal time to celebrate their win, as the team had to then get on a bus the very next day to North Carolina for their NCAA Tournament game against fellow Philadelphia school St. Joseph's University. The Dragons had already beaten the Hawks of St. Joe's in the regular season with an overtime win, but it can be hard to beat a team twice.

"We've never been to the NCAA tournament, so we didn't really know what to expect," Foster said. "I came out with the mentality that I'm not losing this game, but also at the same time, I was like, this could be my last ever collegiate game."

Zelenak reminded her team that the reward was the CAA championship, and this was a bonus. She wanted them to remember their growth and enjoy the little moments. For Foster, playing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Karen Shelton Stadium was surreal. She'd dreamed of playing at the legendary venue since she was a little girl.

Unfortunately, the team couldn't make their dream run continue, as they were eliminated from the tournament after a 2-0 loss to the Hawks despite outshooting them 7-6 and holding a 4-1 advantage in penalty corners. The Dragons finished their season 13-8 overall.

"My pride was that we were at the tournament," Ciufo-Bennett said. "Yeah, we lost two-nil, but we were still fighting to get opportunities in the second half, and I think that says a lot about who we are as a team and speaks volumes. For me, the evolution of who our program continues to become is that we win the CAA championship next year, and we're prepared for that next game. It's not a failure if you learn from it."

For Van Hellemont, who is from Belgium, she never dreamed her field hockey career would go like this, but once she got to Drexel and saw the childhood dreams of her teammates, she knew this was where she wanted to be and what she wanted to do.

"I'm proud, and it was a very emotional game because I didn't want to be done yet," Van Hellemont said. "Afterwards we were all still together and picked each other up. It was a bad moment, but we can look back on the year we had and be proud."

Van Hellemont is especially proud of her growth in her position this year, as she became comfortable playing in the midfield after feeling lost in the beginning of the year and putting a lot of pressure on herself. But through the frustration and trials, she found a way to keep growing for the people around her.

"I remember having my meeting with the coaches last year, and going into a new season is always wondering, 'What's going to happen? Are we going to be as good as we were before?'" Van Hellemont said. "It's always like you're starting again. You don't know what's going to happen, but we all still believed that we could do it. At the end we got rewarded. We manifested it."

For her part, Ciufo-Bennett feels grateful to be part of something that meant so much to her while she was a student-athlete at Drexel, and accomplish the same massive achievement that she did in winning the CAA Tournament. This was her fourth season as assistant coach, and she's seen the team mold into a bunch of gritty players who believe in each other. As special as the championship and NCAA Tournament were, the next day she woke up ready for the next season.

"I swear, I woke up the next day and it was like, 'OK, the CAA championship is the standard. That's what we want, and now can we produce in that next layer for our NCAA tournament game?'" Ciufo-Bennett said. "It's really cool to see the continued evolution, and we wouldn't be where we are without every Drexel hockey player that's come through and the alumni that really helped lay the foundation brick by brick. I think we're really fortunate to have the program we do and the people in it."

Foster will soon become one of those foundational alumnae of the team, as she graduates this spring. The program has changed a lot over her time at Drexel; Ciufo-Bennett wasn't yet on the coaching staff in her first year, and the team went 6-14. But over the years, they turned things around with support from coaches, former players and even other Drexel teams coming to support from the sidelines.

"It's great looking back and seeing the growth the program has made," Foster said. "Obviously it's a great way to go out with the CAA championship, but I think my class especially has laid the foundation of what Drexel field hockey is and I'm very confident that the grades below us can keep carrying that and come out with the CAA championship next year."

Zelenak, Ciufo-Bennett and Van Hellemont all echo that belief. Zelenak loves the off-season, where the building blocks of the fall season are built, and Van Hellemont is ready to get to work this spring to try to pick up where they left off. The goal is clear: back-to-back CAA Champions.

"We're going to win the championship next year, so now let's take it a step higher," Van Hellemont said. "I just believe we can do it again next year. I just want to have fun, and when we all have fun, that's when we played at our best this year."