Photo by: Ellie Reynolds
10/22/2026 9:59:00 AM | Field Hockey, Front Row Features
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"Spanish has a lot of phrases!"
Malena Sabez, a sophomore standout on the nationally-ranked Miami University field hockey team, is laughing in an early-morning interview as she tries to translate a specific expression from her native first language into English.
The idiom that is coming to Sabez's mind in this instance perfectly sums up the 2025 All-American's outlook on life and field hockey both.
"Mejor que ayer, peor que mañana."
Or, translated into English:
"Better than yesterday, worse than tomorrow."
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The Mendoza, Argentina native is about to get on the bus for a road trip with the No. 12 RedHawks, which will prove to be just as successful as usual: Miami will go on to earn lopsided 6-1 and 10-0 victories (at Bellarmine and Ball State, respectively) to move to 10-4 on the season.
Over the course of the weekend, Sabez will score three goals and add an assist, continuing to build on her ridiculously impressive statistics since first arriving in the U.S. just over a year ago. The talented midfielder has played 35 career games for the Red and White so far...and scored 35 goals!
Most athletes would love to have a career list of accomplishments like Sabez's: Second-Team All-American, Third-Team All-American, National Rookie of the Year, MAC Offensive Player of the Year, All-Tournament Team, First-Team All-Conference, Academic Team, and the list goes on...
But all of those awards are from her freshman season alone, with plenty more accolades on the way!
The success that Sabez and the RedHawks have enjoyed can be traced back to that same Spanish saying and how she lives out its meaning – with a laser-like focus on improving day-in and day-out.
"My perspective is to be better every day," Sabez explained. "In Spanish, we use that phrase so much – but it's in every aspect: Making friends, in field hockey, in college...
"Do my 100 percent effort just to be better than I was yesterday. I think it's a great summary."
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Watch Sabez play her sport, and she somehow makes it look easy.
She draws a double-team, and then casually spins away from the second defender on her blind side. (How do you say 'eyes in the back of your head' in Spanish?)
She pushes forward to score but then unfailingly tracks back to defend and harass the other team from behind.She deftly slides a stick toward an oncoming opponent, and suddenly, inexplicably, the RedHawks have the ball and are headed the other direction.
She gets undercut in mid-air for a foul, but manages to relay a pass out of danger anyway despite falling to the turf, and then hops right up to keep the attack going.
She backpedals dozens of yards, somehow still running faster than you and I could move going forward, before effortlessly making yet another highlight-reel play.
And of course, more often than not, she works her way toward the cage and ends up putting a goal on the board for the Red and White before the other team even knows what's happened.
"When you see a good player playing, everything that she does is going to look very easy for them," said head coach Iñako Puzo. "Malena makes everything look so easy and makes every teammate look so good. This is the kind of player that makes a difference...
"If I had to say what she does to make her that good, I'd combine two words: Humility and sacrifice. She sacrifices everything and herself to always help her teammates. And the level of humility she does that with, how she acts not just on the field but off the field, is what makes her such a different kind of player.
"Of course, she has amazing skill, amazing reading of the game, amazing physicality – all the talent that she brings. But I think the spirit to sacrifice herself for others and the humility in how she does that is what makes her a completely different player."
Sabez has honed her abilities since starting the sport at a very young age, which makes complex maneuvers on the field seem like second nature for the Argentinian prodigy. "I think [the key] is doing the first thing that comes to your mind – your [initial instinct]," Sabez said. "If you already saw that pass, just do it. It's really important to do a pre-scan and know when you get the ball what's going on...
"I've had a stick in my hand since I was seven years old. So, for me, it's not that difficult, [even though] for someone who watches, it might look difficult."
Competing at the highest level is nothing new for Sabez. Before joining the RedHawks, she was part of the Argentina national team for two years, first earning a silver medal in the 2023 Junior World Cup in Chile and then captaining her squad for the 2024 Junior Pan American Championship in Canada.
Even though that meant flying to Buenos Aires every Monday for four days of practice and training before returning home on the weekends for club games in her native Mendoza, Sabez wouldn't trade the experience she accumulated during the years she represented her country internationally. And that helped prepare her to eventually play college field hockey thousands of miles from home.
"My life is an adventure," Sabez smiled. "It's something I would not change...I really like all the things that I've done...I was 18 the first time, living with athletes like me from other cities in Argentina. And my week was everything field hockey...we practiced twice a day for at least seven months when we were preparing for [a tournament]...
"When I traveled in Argentina every week, it was not the worst, but being in both places at the same time –Monday to Thursday in Buenos Aires, Thursday to Sunday in Mendoza— you don't develop yourself in either place. It's like you're split: You're in both places, but you are in neither of those.
"Here [at Miami], it's like I am 100 percent here, being present. When you are far [from home], it doesn't matter if it's 100 kilometers or 12,000 like this. You're far away, and you live those experiences that develop yourself and make you grow...
"I have two friends from my club, Valentina Neira and Luli Rosso, that came here and played for Miami, and they told me, 'Yeah, you have to do it.' Graduating from college is really important in Argentina," Sabez continued. "It's not that normal that you have someone studying in the U.S....
"Field hockey was the tool that brought me here, but I already lived that experience in the national team. I wanted to add something important...I always knew what I wanted to study: Supply Chain Management. I was really interested in it...and I want to develop that part of my life too."
The process of getting Sabez to join the RedHawks was a whirlwind recruitment after Puzo made a trip to Argentina in May 2025 to watch his former player Rosso's club compete. "Luli kept insisting for me to go down to Mendoza because she had some people in mind that could be very good for Miami in her club," Puzo recounted. That included Sabez and teammate Justina Intzes, who both would be named to Synapse Sports' National All-Rookie Team together only a few short months later.
"Malena was not looking to come to the U.S. [intitially]; that was not in her plans, and I don't think that idea had ever crossed her mind," Puzo said. "It took a couple of weeks going back and forth, and then she finally decided, 'Hey, you know what? I'm going to give this a try.'
"By that point, we were already at the beginning of June. We set up everything with the application and admission process pretty much in 30 days, and she still needed to get her visa in Argentina! But we had to be fast so she could be here for preseason."
And on Aug. 29, 2025, Sabez played her first game for Miami in the RedHawks' season opener.
Oh, and she scored twice. Because of course she did.
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Sabez didn't slow down from there, exploding for a five-goal game last October against Ball State and then going on to score in each of the RedHawks' final five contests. Her efforts helped Miami secure its 17th straight MAC championship (nine regular-season and eight tournament titles) and advance to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time in program history with a historic victory at No. 4 Virginia.
"For me, the best thing here at Miami was winning [against] UVA," Sabez said. "Yes, I scored – but it doesn't matter. It was the experience with the team!"The goals are important...but the most important thing for me always will be the team."
Sometimes that means Sabez can play 'decoy' while other RedHawks pick up the scoring slack. Other times, such as a September 2026 non-conference matchup at No. 13 Liberty, Miami needs her to carry the offensive load. Trailing by two goals with eight minutes to play in regulation, the RedHawks rallied for a dramatic 5-4 overtime win over the Flames, thanks to not one, not two, but three late goals from their star midfielder.
"It was contagious from everyone," Sabez said as she described the comeback victory and her hat trick. "Everyone was on the same page, running for every ball, diving, and everything. It's like, 'Why am I not doing that? I will join them!'
"We have that kind of leadership that when maybe the game is not going the way we want, then, 'Okay, 'let's go – we've got it!'
"That was a really important game; it helped us so much. But the first memory I have is when I scored in overtime – that feeling to go running to hug all my teammates, and everyone was happy, the same as me," Sabez recalled. "In Spanish, we have a phrase – It means, 'Where you go to hug something or someone, you are from that.'
"I am from Miami Field Hockey. That's what that means to me. When I am happy, I go and hug them. When I am sad, they bring me whatever I need to be better."
Somos de donde corremos a abrazarnos!
"That phrase describes her completely," Puzo agreed. "I asked my players once, when we're talking about 'Love and Honor', what does love look like? And someone said, 'Love, for me and on the team, is when you celebrate other people's success more than your success. When you celebrate other people's goals more than your goal...
"That's what this team is about and what this program tries to grow on. We are lucky to belong to something much bigger than ourselves. That's a privilege, and it's also a moment to enjoy and share and really be happy to be a part of...
"And there you have it: That's Malena. Full of love."
Or put another way, since Spanish does have a lot of phrases...
Esa es Malena. Lleno de amor.
Very well said, indeed...in any language.
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Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures
Malena Sabez and the Miami University field hockey team will be in action Friday, Oct. 23 (vs. Kent State) and again Sunday, Oct. 25 (vs. Michigan) for home games in Oxford. Both games start at 1 p.m.
Players Mentioned
Midfielder
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Midfielder
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