Former Bellows Falls Student Chipman Making Her Mark At CSC

Castleton, VT-Former Bellows Falls Union High School (BFUHS) student athlete Kealy Chipman, a standout field hockey and softball player for the Lady Terriers from 2006-09, recently concluded a very successful field hockey season at Castleton State College (CSC), helping the Lady Spartans to a school record 11 wins.

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Photo by Joe Milliken

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A four-year varsity player for BFUHS, Chipman was a leading scorer and captain in field hockey and lead-off hitter and starting shortstop on the softball team, and was part of a Lady Terrier field hockey team that made it to the Division III state championship game.

Now a junior at CSC, Chipman brought her field hockey game to the next level this fall, as the Lady Spartans went undefeated in the North Atlantic Conference (9-0) for the first time in school history, while finishing the season with a 11-8 record.

Chipman was a major contributor to the team's success, finishing tied for the team lead in goals with 20 and second overall in points with 45. "In high school I was always the top scorer on my team but when I came to Castleton, I had to learn that I was going to play a different role on the team," Chipman said in a recent interview.

After the season started off a little rough for the Lady Spartans, they made some strategic changes and went on a roll. "We were trying a new system, but having trouble scoring," Chipman said. "So we went back to a 3-3-3-1 and we started scoring and winning games."

Chipman was a big part of the late-season surge, which started with an impressive, 9-3 win over Union College in which she notched her second career hat trick, before getting a goal and assist in a 5-2 win over of Lassell College. Then, after a hiccup, 3-0 loss at Drew College, CSC bounced right back with 4-2 win over Maine in which Chipman scored a goal.

With an NAC regular season title now within reach, Chipman really turned it up a notch, scoring another hat trick in a 6-3 win over Simmons College. The win put the Lady Spartans at 9-7 overall, but also a sterling 7-0 record in the NAC heading down the stretch drive. Then came the biggest match up of the season against St. Joseph's, in which both teams came in with 7-0 conference records.

In arguably the biggest game of the year Chipman came up big, notching her fourth hat trick of the season and second in two games, leading the Lady Spartans to a thrilling, 4-3 overtime win and sole possession of first place in the NAC with one game to play. She also scored her team's first three goals of the game.

In a home match up against Husson College to end the regular season, Chipman led the way one more time with two goals in a 4-2 win, which secured a perfect 8-0 record and No. 1 seed in the conference. The two tallies gave Chipman 20 goals on the season to go along with four assists. Chipman would also be named Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Week the week after registering eight goals and an assist over the three-game span.

"I am usually in the top two or three each year, but switching to center-forward has allowed me to pass a lot to the wings and playing a lot more unselfish," Chipman said. "I am helping my teammates to excel and as long as we win, that's the bottom line."

In the first round of the NAC Tournament against the No. 8 seed Lasell College, the Lady Spartans scored four first half goals en route to a 4-0 win, but the ride would end in the semi-final round against fifth-seeded Husson, dropping a tough, 1-0 loss to end their season just one game shy of the NAC Championship game.

Despite the loss, the Lady Spartans put together arguably the best season in the program's history and Chipman became a big part of that success. The junior finished the season with 20 goals and 5 assists for 45 points, placing her second on the team in scoring. Chipman was also named first team All-Conference.

"My coach, Tammy Landon, has done a lot for me in helping to raise the level of my game," Chipman concluded. Landon was recently named NAC Coach of the Year. "But coach Landon made it so much more then that and really made me look at the game from the inside out. I want to be a college coach someday and I really look up to her and she is such a great coach. Girls come to Castleton to play because they like coach so much."

These are great things to hear from a former Lady Terrier student athlete who has not only stepped up her game, but also her plans to succeed moving forward in life.