The Moyer Girls

“Are you two related?”

This is a question often asked of both Bridget and Emily Moyer of the Temple field hockey team.

“Well, no…but we just tell everyone we’re cousins,” said the Moyer girls as they dug into some doughnuts after their first game of the Temple Invitational Tournament.

The surprise return of Bridget Moyer after a year off from field hockey has sparked an interesting relationship between both Bridget and Emily Moyer. Keeping statistics for the team just a few weeks ago, Bridget decided that she needed to drop the pencil and paper and start using her field hockey stick again.

The 5-foot-4-inch, junior out of Reinhold, Pa. played for the team during her freshman year, but took a rest from the sport in the 2001 season. After having time off, Bridget felt there was something definitely missing from her life.

“I missed the girls, ” Bridget said. “I missed playing, and after keeping stats for the team last year I came back this year and said to myself: ‘I need to get in there, I need to play.'”

“I’m really happy that I’m back, the team is going to be really good this year.”

Bridget’s return has not only put a smile in her own mirror, but also on the faces of coaches and teammates that she is re-uniting with for this season.

When questioned about Bridget’s return to the team, senior co-captain Emily Moyer spoke vibrantly about the subject, claiming that “the team is really excited that Bridget’s back she adds that extra spark that will make us that much better.”

Emily, likewise, looks forward to a stellar season while playing with Bridget. While chiming in with each other as if both girls were the same person, they said “we [the team] feel that we are going to do extremely well this season, both in and out of the Atlantic 10 Conference. We have a young team with a lot of depth and we’ve already had some tough competition to prepare us for our schedule this year.”

There are also some more experienced players and coaches who have the same notion about the Owls this year, namely head coach Lauren Guchs, who is in her ninth season as the field hockey coach.

Fuchs looks forward to a successful season this year and has high hopes for the Owls as Moyer and Moyer team up once again.

“I am really glad that Bridgetr came back to play for us,” Fuchs said. “She is a different player because she also has a soccer background, so she has some sharp moves that opponents cannot handle.

“She’s also very tough in the circle, and will lay out in order to get a hold of the ball. When she came back, I had a big smile on my face.”

When questioned about the other half of Moyer and Moyer, Fuchs stated that “Emily does a great job as a co-captain, she’s experienced and will help us be very successful this year.”

As a junior during the 2001 season, Emily started as a midfielder in all 18 games played. She was second on the team with six assists and was selected to the Mid-Atlantic Regional All-American Team. Emily was also named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Academic All-American and A-10 Commissioner Honor Roll.

The Owls (0-3) have started off with tough losses to Lehigh, and national powerhouses Iowa and North Carolina

With the help of Moyer and Moyer, the Owls will look to tear through their schedule as a feared family of field hockey players … after all, Moyer and Moyer are cousins, aren’t they?