Pitch Session

It's Episode 70 and Andrew and Kirstin are joined by Trinity College head coach Taylor Dyer. They discuss the upcoming season for the Bantams, what exactly a Bantam is, and what Taylor's expectations are for the upcoming season. They also talk about the unique situation of their opener being against the defending national champions against Tufts, on the same turf Taylor competed on as a Tufts student-athlete.

Kirstin gives her preseason pick for each D1 conference from the America East to the Patriot League and everything in-between, including the MPSF.

Voting for the pre-season people's poll is down to a matter of days. Get your vote in before the close of the weekend to be included in this year's preseason results. 

Andrew and Kirstin turn their focus to the 2026 FIH World Cup which begins this weekend and bring on Chilean national team midfielder Constanza Palma to hear how the Chilean team is preparing for the tournament and their opening match this weekend against the hosts and defending champions from The Netherlands.

Besides the World Cup, they announce the opening of the People's Poll for 2026 with the voting for the preseason poll available now. They look at a often-requested rule change that has come to fruition and continue to build a coalition to "fix" penalty corner stats.

To vote in the People's Preseason Poll please click here.

Andrew and Kirstin are back for Season Four of Pitch Session. In today's first episode they look back at the summer and look forward to the new season. They contemplate the end of Senior Day ceremonies, discuss coaches with old faces in new places, and have a vital update on the People's Poll.

The 2025 Pitchies are here! Andrew and Kirstin are joined by an all-star cast to announce the winners of our 2025 year-end awards. Rachel from The Maxi Pod joins the show to help hand out the hardware. This year’s Pitchies welcomed Pitchie Winners Elizabeth Edmonston of Cal and Iñako Puzo onto the show. Other Pitchie winners to make special appearances include Syracuse D Bo van Kempen, Northwestern D Ilse Tromp, and Ohio coach Ali Johnstone.

Brett Snyder of The Air Show hands out the inaugural MPSF MVP, Rachel and Kirstin give their Destiny’s Challenge for the season, Rachel gives her twist on the DIII short corner and they all put a bow -- not a Bo -- on the 2025 season.

2025 Pitchies handed out in today’s episode:

1.) Best Defending Attacker (3:15)

2.) Best Attacking Defender (4:45)

3.) Best Drag Flicker (8:30)

4.) Coach of the Year (11:49)

5.) Goal of the Year (28:30)

6.) Story of the Year (34:36)

7.) MPSF MVP (58:20)

8.) Upset of the Year (73:35)

9.) Game of the Year (82:40)

10.) Player of the Year (83:45)

Northwestern is the national champion again, and Andrew and Kirstin are back to wrap up the season and the NCAA Tournament in style. They’re joined first by three-time national champion Northwestern assistant coaches Georgia Holland and Will Byrne (7:10) to break down this year’s Wildcats, their run to a second straight title, and to give Georgia the floor for what can only be described as the observation of the year (31:24). 

Next, the crew welcomes the 2025 Bracket Spectacular presented by Wrappit Wrappit champion, Wellesley (MA) freshman goalkeeper Bridget Young (36:50), to talk through her winning bracket, her field hockey season, how she got her unique nickname, and what it’s like to take home the crown.

Andrew and Kirstin then put a bow on the Division II and III tournaments (48:15) and Andrew takes a look at a very curious Daily Tar Heel recap of Friday’s national semifinal.

Finally, they close the show with three-time national champion, 2025 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, and U.S. national team midfielder Maddie Zimmer, (63:10) who walks through her unforgettable championship weekend, including back-to-back overtime wins and her jaw-dropping play to set up the game winner against UNC.

Andrew and Kirstin are on location in Durham, NC for the 2025 Final Four and report back on the day's two games live from Pitch Session's Research Triangle Headquarters.

They look back at the less-than-enthralling opener between Harvard and Princeton in which the Tigers emerged with a 2-0 win, and then breakdown the thriller in the nightcap that saw Northwestern come back from a two goal deficit to upset North Carolina 4-3 in overtime.

They also provide an update in the Bracket Spectacular presented by Wrappit Wrappit -- spoiler: we're down to two possible winners. Andrew comes with a hot take on counting penalty corners and checks in on the D2 tournament while Kirstin's D3 Short Corner recaps the semifinal action in that tournament.

It's Final Four time and Andrew and Kirstin are joined by the head coaches of all four teams competing in this weekend's Final Four.

First, they look back on the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament, provide an update on the Bracket Challenge Spectacular presented by Wrappit Wrappit, and lament the amount of video reviews that seemed to dominate the first and second rounds of the tournament.

They're then joined by Tracey Fuchs of Northwestern (26:30), Carla Tagliente of Princeton (36:44), Tjerk van Herwaarden of Harvard (55:35), and Erin Matson (68:17) of North Carolina. All four head coaches reflect back on the road that led them to this weekend's national semifinals, look ahead to their respective matchups and what it means to be back on NCAA field hockey's biggest stage.

Following the four chats, Andrew breaks down the D2 bracket with overwhelming expertise, Kirstin gives us an update on the final four in her D3 short corner and they make their picks for Friday's two games.

Andrew and Kirstin are joined by two-time All-American, two-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year and two-time Patriot League tournament MVP Christine Fingerhuth to look back at last weekend's conference tournaments and breakdown the NCAA Tournament bracket. They look at all 10 conferences with AQs to the field of 18 and the 11th -- the inaugural championship of the MPSF.

A D3 corner includes a breakdown of the D3 bracket, there's a bonus D2 corner, and every game this weekend is a Game to Watch (tm) as the tournament gets underway.

There's still time to join the bracket spectacular presented by Wrappit Wrappit!

officepoolstop.com

League ID: 86450

Password: 'pitch25" 

The postseason has arrived and Andrew and Kirstin are ready to take a look at each of the 10 conference tournaments taking place this week along with the MPSF Championship Game that we've been waiting all year for. Kirstin picks a winner for each conference and makes an early guess at what eight teams will earn at-large selections to the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced this Sunday night.

The 2025 Bracket Spectacular is open for signups!  Thank you to this year's sponsor of the bracket spectacular, Wrappit Wrappit custom chamois grips for field hockey. The winner of this year's bracket spectacular, in addition to joining the pod, will be able to donate an entire team's worth of grips from Wrappit Wrappit to the high school or college team of their choice.

To join the league password-free, please follow this link.

Also signup by going to officepoolstop.com and entering our league ID: 86450 and our password: pitch25.

Andrew and Kirstin are joined by US Women's National Team athlete and Northwestern Wildcat Ashley Sessa to chat about her big weekend last week that helped propel the Wildcats to the Big Ten Regular Season title.

They also preview where each conference stands going into the final weekend of the regular season, look at Kirstin's DIII Corner, her Games to Watch (tm), and have a vital update for our pollsters for next week.