Erin Bozdech, second from right, with senior teammates, from left, Ellie Dunham, Caroline Page and Olivia Broyles after winning the SAA Tournament Championship. (Becky Will Photo)
She tried to block everything out of her mind when Centre College played Rhodes in the Southern Athletic Association Tournament championship game Sunday but after the Colonels won 2-1, Erin Bozdech got emotional.
The Colonels lost 8-0 at Rhodes on Oct. 23 —just a short time after the passing of Bozdech’s father, Paul.
“The first time we played Rhodes we obviously were not in the right mindset,” said Bozdech, a senior team captain from St. Louis and the conference defensive player of the year. “I was coming from my dad’s visitation and a few teammates came with me.”
“I tried to block all that out day once we started playing but before I was using it as motivation. After the game I definitely got emotional wanting to share with him knowing he was watching and saw how we were able to respond. Just knowing he has been watching this entire time and saw me win defensive player of the year from wherever he is gets me emotional.”
Her brother played field hockey when she was “really little” and her parents told her since she was always at his games, she should just play, too.
“I started when I was young and fell in love with it. I will always remember my dad teaching me how to sweep the ball and after I got that down, I knew I was buying into this sport,” she said. “I was thinking about that some today. I was tearing up after every goal and tearing up a bit at the end when I knew we were going to win.”
Bozdech, a behavioral neuroscience major who plans to go to medical school, knows continuing to play the sport she loved helped her cope with her father’s passing. She felt she was in the world at Centre she had built without him and had support to help her.
“I started this sport with my father and wanted to end it with him too and these girls helped me get across the finish line,” she said.
She knew her father would want that. On Senior Day against Kenyon on Oct. 29 he had a special message he had recorded before his death.
“It was basically him just kind of saying, ‘Put your hand over your heart and know I am with you and I am always there whether in person or watching on Zoom or just watching from above.’” she said.
She had listened to his message before it was shared publicly at the Senior Day ceremony to make sure it “was not too sentimental and sad and would hit too close to home” but she knew it needed to be shared for others to hear.
“It was a very encouraging message that I wanted everyone to hear, even Kenyon, because as much as you want to win, it is a family sport at the end of the day,” the Centre senior said. “I wanted everyone to feel that spirit of my father because that is what he would have wanted.”
Bozdech credits coach Grace Goodbar as well as her teammates for helping her in many ways the last few weeks after her father’s death.
“Coach was amazing and so supportive. I was able to visit my father before he passed away earlier in the season and go back to the visitation and she never held anything against me or let anything affect my playing time or practice time,” Bozdech said. “She just always made sure that I knew I could do what I needed to do for myself and the team. She was there with her support in the most unique and special ways.”
Centre’s championship game win came when senior Olivia Broyles, the tournament’s most valuable player, had a break away unassisted goal with just over two minutes to play. Centre also won the tourney in 2019 when Bozdech was a freshman and was conference regular-season champion her junior season.
“This is definitely the biggest rivalry in the conference. It is back and forth a lot between us,” she said. “The mindset today was just to play our game, get some revenge and show them what we are made of.”
Bozdech, who led the team in minutes played this season, never imagined being named the conference defensive player of the year. Instead, she was more focused on enjoying every second she could playing the sports she loved with her “family and friends” on the team.
“There were a bunch of great players who could have won but this was really a team award more than just an award for me,” she said. “That is why I like playing team sports. Every success, and failure, you can share with the team and either help boost them or they can boost you.”
Bozdech didn’t have any specific celebration plans after the tournament championship win in her final collegiate game.
“Luckily I did all my hard classes the first three years so tonight I don’t have too much homework,” she said. “I have been playing a lot of Mario Kart (a series of Nintendo racing games) where I live with friends, so I will do that, relax, have some fun and enjoy what we just accomplished.”
