Five Scot Stickers Named to NCAC All-Decade Team

Emily White

Heather Heitsenrether

Five College of Wooster alums, headlined by Kate Dune (Oak Park, Ill. / Oak Park & River Forest), Miriam Esber (Oxford, Ohio / Talawanda), and Emily White (Princeton, W. Va. / Western Reserve Academy), all of whom came out of the same recruiting class, were selected to the North Coast Athletic Conference’s All-Decade Team (1993-2003) for field hockey, announced the league office on Monday.

Pennsylvania natives Katie Doyle (Lancaster, Pa. / Manheim Twp.) and Heather Heitsenrether (Harrisburg, Pa. / Lower Dauphin) were the other Scot representatives on the elite 18-member squad.

Dunne, who played from 1998-2001, recently graduated as one of the program’s most-decorated ever. She was one of just three Wooster players to earn multiple All-American recognition and the only Scot to be a four-time first-team all-conference honoree. The sweeper capped her career with a senior season that saw her anchor a defense that posted 10 shutouts and held opponents to averages of 0.95 goals and just 8.45 shots, and lead the team to its first outright NCAC title en route to first-team All-American honors. Dunne, who produced 13 career points on four goals and five assists, also was the NCAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2001, as well as the NCAA Woman of the Year for the State of Ohio, which takes into account academics and community service, as well as athletic accolades.

Katie Doyle

Katie Dunne

Esber, as a midfielder, was equally important to Wooster’s success from 1998-2001, during which it went 46-28 (.622). She garnered mention on the All-Great Lakes Region and All-NCAC Teams all four seasons, including first-team recognition on both as a senior when she had a career-high 29 points on 12 goals and five assists. For her career, Esber finished with 26 goals and 21 assists for 73 points, which ranked her eighth in school history in scoring and tied for fourth in assists upon graduation. She was able to put up those offensive numbers, while also constantly playing a vital role on defenses that shutout 24 opponents.

White was the top scorer in the NCAC from 1998-2001, and the speedy 5-2 forward finished as one of just four Scots ever to reach the 100-point mark for a career. In fact, her 102 points, which came on 35 goals and 32 assists, rank sixth on the conference’s all-time scoring list. White’s most productive season was in 2000, when she finished as the NCAA Division III leader in assists (0.94 per game) and broke the league and school records for total assists (17) en route to being named the NCAC Player of the Year. For her efforts, White was three-time all-region and four-time all-conference, including a first-team pick on both in 2000-01.

Doyle, a midfielder, played from 1992-95, compiling 47 career points on 16 goals and 15 assists. As a freshman, she passed out a team-leading five assists, and built on her career from there, earning three consecutive All-NCAC selections, including back-to-back first-team honors. Doyle, who helped Wooster to 20 shutouts during her playing days, also was on the All-Great Lakes Region First Team in 1994 and 1995.

Miriam Esber

Heitsenrether, who preceded White at the same position (sweeper) from 1994-97, had a nearly identical career, in terms of awards, as she was a two-time All-American, NCAA Woman of the Year for Ohio, and an NCAC Defensive Player of the Year. Not even a starter on her high school field hockey team, Heitsenrether took tremendous strides while with the Scots, receiving honorable mention as a freshman on the all-conference team and then developing into a three-time first-team All-NCAC pick and the anchor of the defense. As a junior, she helped hold the opposition to 1.10 goals per game, including seven shutouts, en route to third-team All-American honors, and followed that up by being voted the league’s top back and a first-team All-American on a unit that had six shutouts and a 1.06 goals allowed average.

In celebrating the league’s 20th anniversary, the NCAC is releasing a second set of All-Decade Teams for all 22 sports that it sponsors throughout 2003-04. The NCAC previously picked All-Decade Teams for student-athletes from the years of 1984-1993 when honoring its 10th year of operation.