Cookson Commands Field Hockey with Deft Touch

On Sept. 15 at Dedham Field, Harvard women’s field hockey lined up for a penalty corner against Northeastern, barely three minutes into the game. Sophomore midfielder Casey Allen passed to fellow midfield and team co-captain Ellie Cookson, who settled down the ball for high-flying sophomore Bente van Vlijmen. The forward’s shot rippled the net.

That tally was the first in what would end up as a 7-3 win for the Crimson. But that wasn’t the only reason that goal was special.

Cookson’s assist gave her 27 total in her career at Harvard, propelling her to the top of the Crimson’s career assists list and breaking a record that’s over 10 years old. She’s since extended her lead to a comfortable 32 and shows no signs of stopping. To the senior, this distinction is just a small part of what she hopes to accomplish in her last year on the team.

“It was mostly special because it showed how many goals we’ve scored,” says Cookson. “It’s really special to know that you have a pretty big impact, even if it is just assists.”

But with assists, naturally, come goals. This season, Harvard (11-4, 4-1 Ivy) has seen an explosion of scoring from several different players, outshooting opponents 275-121. The team has reached seven goals in three games this year. For comparison, the last time the Crimson scored seven goals in one game before this fall was in 2003. The past few weeks, Harvard has seen its most lopsided wins in program history against Brown, Penn, and Holy Cross. There’s certainly something special cooking on the offensive end for the Crimson—and Cookson is a big part of that. While she has only one goal on the season, she leads the team with eight assists.

“As a [midfielder] you’re the connection between the defence and the forward. You have to be able to see both sides of the field…and put yourself in the best position to get the ball towards the attackers,” says Cookson. “There’s nothing quite as satisfying as finding a really good pass.”

Fellow co-captain and midfielder Hannah Wellington isn’t surprised by Cookson’s growth. She can remember a time when the pair were newcomers to a team that, just the season before, had posted a disappointing 2-5 Ivy record. The next few years brought about a visible change, however. Harvard finished 4-3 in the Ancient Eight in 2014 and 2015. Cookson started all 17 games her rookie year, finishing with a team-leading 11 assists.

“Ellie came into the team as this young player who had so much energy and passion for field hockey,” Wellington recalls. “As she grew older, she went on to refine that energy, point it in the right direction to become really tenacious on the field, and redefine herself as...an extremely tactically aware player who can not just focus on her own game, but also influence and direct others.”

Cookson’s tactical strength is apparent in the way she talks about the game; she grows visibly animated when discussing strategy. The on-the-spot thinking that goes into field hockey is her favorite part of both the game and her position.

“We plan around the [other] teams and their structures, but at the end of the day it’s all about reading what the other team is doing and being able to adapt,” Cookson says. “The big thing with our team is trusting the process and trusting the plan...but we’re encouraged to add our own spice to it. If it’s not exactly working the way we planned, adapt to it.”

Back in high school, the Oakville, Ontario, native captained both the field hockey team and the rugby team, while also dabbling in curling. The tactical aspect of field hockey, among other things, is what led her to follow the path into collegiate field hockey rather than rugby.

“I broke my foot and my collarbone in April of my senior year,” says Cookson. “I thought about playing rugby here too, but I don’t have the injury threshold like I used to. Field hockey is a mental game as much as a physical one, and I think that aspect of it really draws me to it.”

But what about curling, one wonders? Cookson pauses before answering.

“You can’t get recruited for curling,” she says. “I also was really, really bad.”

After playing a major role as a freshman, Cookson saw a dip in production her sophomore year. She returned as a junior to lead the Ivy League with 10 assists in 2017—a season that also saw Harvard take home the Ivy title with a perfect 7-0 conference record. The dramatic reversal of fortune for the team has shaped Cookson as a player.

“My freshman year, I was like, ‘I’ve got to dribble through everyone, and score goals!’” the midfielder says with a laugh. “It’s an important lesson that everyone learns in college field hockey—you literally cannot dribble through everyone. I used to be really hard on myself if I didn’t contribute to the game as much as I wanted to, and I think now I’m less focused on myself and more focused on the team.”

Adding the responsibility of captaincy to the already-full schedule of a student athlete seems a daunting prospect. But Cookson thinks that the team is close-knit and talented enough that she doesn’t feel the need to be a hands-on captain. Wellington agrees.

“Ellie is an incredible player in the sense that she really leads by example,” says Wellington. “I think she’s someone who draws the best out of every single person that she works with.”

Harvard suffered a major setback last week, when the team fell to rival Princeton. The Tigers now control their destiny and can clinch a league title by winning two more games. For Cookson, though, the last three games of the regular season offer a chance to put pressure on Princeton and perhaps take the Crimson to the NCAAs again.

“It’s sad realizing you only have three games left, but you only have three games left, so what’s there to lose?” Cookson says. “If you don’t leave everything on the field in these last three games, you’re going to regret it. For me, going into this, it’s just giving it everything for these last couple of games—for the team—to leave a good legacy.”

When it comes to legacies, the record book shows that Cookson has nothing to worry about.