"Legacy, what is a legacy?" – Lin-Manuel Miranda, "Hamilton"
 
Winning a championship is not easy.
 
Winning back-to-back championships is even more difficult.
 
Winning nine championships in a row? Infinitely harder.
 
Winning nine championships in a row…with the same players? Almost unheard of.
 
Lexie Nugent, Morgan Sturm, Laurel Dortch, and Taylor Curran have been part of the Miami field hockey program for five years. The quartet of 'super seniors' joined the team in 2017, but due to the havoc COVID played on the field hockey schedule in 2020 and 2021, they are now finishing their fifth season for the Red and White.
 
And during their time in Oxford, they've re-written the record books.
 
MAC regular-season champions in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 (played this past spring), and now, 2021.
 
Postseason tournament champions in 2017, 2018, and 2019 (the event was not held in the spring season).
 
In other words, every time this group has had an opportunity to win a MAC title, they've done just that.
 
That's why there was such a nervous buzz at the field Saturday when top-seeded Miami allowed a goal 71 seconds into the 2021 MAC Tournament championship game.
 
After shutting out Ohio in the semifinals the day before, the RedHawks were playing from behind. And as the minutes wore on…and the quarters went by…one of the most impressive accomplishments in Miami athletic history looked like it was going to come up one title, or one goal, short.
 
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Nugent wouldn't let that happen.
 
"Before the game we talked about the will to win, and it comes from the inside," she said. "For me, today meant everything, so I just really dug deep. This is when it matters, and I'm going to do anything I can to put this team on my back and get that ball in. I owe it to my teammates."
 
Nugent scored with 11:43 remaining on the clock to tie the game, and Miami got a second goal from Paula Pena with 3:59 left in the fourth quarter to pull out a thrilling 2-1 win.
 
"We had to be relentless," coach Iñako Puzo said. "The most important part for us was to keep our mind on the game, to be consistent, and keep believing. The fourth quarter is the result: we keep knocking on the door for 45 minutes, and then the last 15 minutes you start seeing the results."
 
Sturm said that even when MU trailed in the fourth quarter, she was 100% confident that Miami would find a way to pull out the win.
 
"Something our team has historically done pretty well is keeping our heads in the game and not ever giving up," she said. "There was never a doubt in my mind that we could do it. Getting down and then going up – that's an incredible feeling.
 
"This year has been kind of a roller coaster compared to what I thought it would be, but everything I ever imagined…A dream come true."
 
Oh, and the credit goes to the blue heads. Or something like that.
 
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"Coach made us read this book," sophomore Claudia Negrete Garcia laughed.
 
Admittedly, the MAC Offensive Player of the Year hasn't had a lot of free time to read since joining the RedHawks. With both a spring season and a fall season in 2021, the team's offseason was abbreviated at best. But still…
 
"In the offseason, we read the book, and then we all go through and discuss it in leadership academy meetings," Sturm said.
 
The book in question uses a term called "blue heads" to talk about being calm, focused, and relaxed in stressful situations. Apparently, trailing in the fourth quarter of a championship game qualifies.
 
"With all the pressure that comes at the end of the season, it's something that we had to implement later on," Sturm explained. "We talked about it the whole time. We need to calm our nerves and learn how to be together – blue heads – so we can work to finish a game like we know how to do."
 
"Everyone just kind of taps their head and knows that's what the whole team needs to stay composed," said Nugent. "Every chapter of that book is something we've implemented within our team, so that chapter really applied to today.
 
"Going into the fourth quarter, everyone was just saying 'blue heads' to each other. We know we have the maturity and the experience to win this game; it was really just a matter of putting the ball in the back of the net."
 
The name of the James Kerr book in question?
 
Legacy.
 
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Webster defines the word as 'something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.'
 
Sturm understands what it means to leave a legacy, to put an imprint on a program for the next generation of student-athletes. She saw it firsthand, playing with her older sister Avery Sturm (the 2018 MAC Tournament MVP).
 
"You have to learn and grow into that position as a leader and a player," she said. "Then you want more than anything to give that to the younger players., because that's what it's all about."
 
Negrete Garcia said the upperclassmen have made a lasting impact on the rest of their teammates.
 
"They teach us so much," said Negrete Garcia. "We learn a lot from them. Last year was difficult because of COVID, but they gave us such a welcome – it was amazing."
 
According to Nugent, the fifth-year group is just trying to keep the tradition alive. "When were freshmen, we had a phenomenal senior class that showed us the Miami way, the Miami standards," she said.
 
"We took it upon ourselves to really encompass that in everything we do, and now it's our job to show the younger girls what it's like to be a player at Miami. This team from freshman year to now has left a legacy that was built from those who came before us."
 
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As Nugent, Sturm, Dortch, and Curran wind down their illustrious careers wearing the Red and White, others are noticing how they've lived out the 'Miami way'...including the university president.
 
President Greg and Dr. Renate Crawford were on hand Saturday afternoon to present each member of the field hockey team with the President's Medallion, a special recognition for 'those who live and embody the virtues of the Code of Love and Honor.'
 
It was the first time a Miami varsity team has ever received the Medallion.
 
"Having President Crawford being able to honor us with that really meant a lot to me," a grateful Nugent said afterward. "It's so humbling to be part of such an amazing program."
 
Perhaps the most amazing part? Even after winning nine championships, there may still be some unfinished business for Miami to chase this November.
 
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"History has its eyes on you." – Lin-Manuel Miranda, "Hamilton"
 
It would have been easy for the super seniors to call it quits after the spring. Four trips to the NCAA tournament in four years? There's nothing like going out on top, right?
 
However…
 
"We took the risk to come back and try to get one more, because that's what elite athletes do," Nugent said, wearing her brand-new 2021 MAC Champions shirt. "We just continued to try to push for one more, so that's what we've been working for this whole season. I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to stay one extra semester – it truly means everything to me."
 
"It's incredible - I just hope people know that," Puzo said. "This group is getting out of here with five runs to the NCAA, five rings in five years, and they've lost only two MAC games in their full career." (Miami is 35-2 in regular-season league play and undefeated in the MAC Tournament since 2017.)
 
Now, as this season winds down, the super seniors – and the team as a whole – keep building on their success. Not only did Miami qualify for its fifth consecutive NCAA tournament --one of only three schools in the country, along with Michigan and North Carolina, to do so-- but the RedHawks learned Sunday night that they had been awarded a home game in the event for the first time in program history.
 
(Although Ball State and California played a neutral site game in Oxford as part of the 1992 tournament, Miami has never competed in the national tourney on its own campus.)
 
"It's amazing – how much respect this program has gained throughout the years," said Sturm. "It's grown even since I've been here, but even before that, and I think that shows especially now as we host our very first NCAA game ever."
 
"I'm just thrilled our team is getting that recognition now in being able to host," said associate athletic director Jennifer Gilbert, who also serves as the Chair of the NCAA Field Hockey Committee. "Our Miami coaches, student-athletes and support staff have worked so hard for so many years and consistently stayed at that high level. Occasionally on the committee we see teams that have one or two really good years and then drop out of the picture, but Miami's garnered that respect because they're knocking on the door every year."
 
MU will battle visiting Maine Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the opening round, with the winner advancing to play third-seeded Michigan in Ann Arbor two days later.
 
"We're super excited – we don't have anything to lose at this point," Negrete Garcia said. "So now we're going to compete, we're going to have fun, and we're going to try to win as much as we can."
 
The 'Hawks played a rigorous non-conference schedule, as they do every season, facing four teams each from the ACC and Big Ten, two of the longtime powerhouse conferences in the sport. That included an exhibition game at Michigan in August, a narrow 2-1 win for the Wolverines. In other words, Miami won't be intimidated by any potential matchup in the postseason.
 
"They're challenging themselves to play with the best in the country," said Gilbert. "The only way you can defeat the best teams in the country is if you play them!"
 
Puzo's team has claimed two opening-round NCAA wins (in the 2017 and 2018 seasons) since Nugent, Sturm, Dortch, and Curran arrived, but the RedHawks have never advanced beyond that to the tournament quarterfinals. Is this the year for Miami to break through?
 
"That's the next goal," Nugent said. "We're just going to lock in and focus on one game at a time and try to make more history."

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