Boston, Field Hockey, and a Day on the Road
Updated: 7 days ago
Some of the best days in sports photography begin long before the first whistle and end long after the final photograph is taken.
On September 12, I made the trip to Boston to photograph Quinnipiac Field Hockey against Boston University at New Balance Field. It was a true day trip—travel to Boston, cover the game, pack everything back up, and head home. There was no weekend built around it and no second game waiting the following day. The game itself was the reason for the trip.
Those are some of my favorite assignments.
There is something different about traveling specifically to photograph one game. Hours on the road eventually lead to a couple of hours on the sideline, and then almost as quickly as you arrived, you're heading home again. From the outside, that might seem like a lot of traveling for one afternoon of sports. To me, it's part of what makes covering college athletics so rewarding. Every trip is an opportunity to experience another venue, photograph another matchup, and add another story to a growing collection of memories.
Boston has also become a city connected to some of my favorite experiences photographing college sports. There is an unmistakable sports culture throughout the city, and arriving for another game always carries a certain energy. This time, however, there was no hockey rink or basketball arena waiting at the end of the trip. It was an outdoor field in the middle of the city and a matchup between Quinnipiac and Boston University.
Once the game began, Boston University quickly established control.
The Terriers scored twice in the opening quarter and added another early in the second, building a 3-0 advantage before Quinnipiac could find its breakthrough. From a photography perspective, games like this require patience. When the team you're following falls behind early, the story you're looking for changes. Instead of simply waiting for celebrations, you start looking for the response—the intensity in a challenge, the effort to create another opportunity, and the moments that show a team continuing to compete when the scoreboard isn't in its favor.
Quinnipiac eventually found that response through Maaike Van Wensen.
With the Bobcats trailing by three, Van Wensen scored midway through the second quarter to cut the deficit to 3-1. Suddenly there was something to build around. One goal didn't erase the deficit, but it changed the feeling of the game and gave Quinnipiac something tangible to carry into halftime.
The third quarter passed without a goal from either side, leaving the Bobcats within striking distance entering the final fifteen minutes. Boston University eventually restored its three-goal advantage early in the fourth, but Quinnipiac continued pushing rather than allowing the game to simply reach its conclusion.
That persistence produced one more moment.
With less than two minutes remaining, Francisca Eschoyez found the cage for her team-leading fourth goal of the young season, with Lucia Donati picking up her second assist of the afternoon. It made the final score 4-2 and provided one last celebration to capture before the final whistle.
The result wasn't what Quinnipiac had traveled to Boston hoping for, but I've learned that the value of photographing a game can't always be measured by whether the team wins.
Some of my favorite photographs have come from losses. Sports don't stop producing meaningful moments simply because one side of the scoreboard has a smaller number. There are still milestones, individual performances, battles for possession, reactions, and emotions worth preserving. Van Wensen scored her second goal of the season. Eschoyez continued a strong start with her fourth in five games. Donati recorded the first two assists of her collegiate career and her first multi-point performance. Those moments remain part of each athlete's story regardless of the final result.
That's why I think back on the entire day rather than only the 4-2 score.
A day trip for one game can sound simple when reduced to a line on a calendar. Drive to Boston. Photograph field hockey. Drive home.
But the experience is bigger than that.
It's watching the scenery change as another city gets closer. It's arriving at a field you've never photographed at and figuring out where you want to work. It's preparing equipment, studying the light and backgrounds, and waiting for the first whistle. Then there are a couple of hours where everything else disappears and the only thing that matters is anticipating what will happen next through the viewfinder.
And when it's over, everything goes back into the bag.
The field gets smaller in the rearview mirror, the photographs come home with you, and another trip becomes part of the journey.
Not every road trip needs to last an entire weekend to become memorable. Sometimes all it takes is a camera, a destination, and one game worth making the drive for.
Boston was exactly that.
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