Coker Field Hockey Returns After 40-Year Hiatus with First Signee

Posted: Apr 11, 2018

HARTSVILLE, S.C. - Before even stepping onto the Coker Athletic Field, Kaleigh Cordrey's name is in the history books of Coker Athletics as the Navy and Gold's first field hockey signee since discontinuing the sport back in 1977.

"I'm thrilled to have Kaleigh joining our team as our official first member," says Coker's head field hockey coach, Kat Heterbring. "She is an excellent student and will play a role in our success on the field."

Cordrey is from Selbyville, Del., where she attends Indian River High School. She is a member of the field hockey team for the Indians and was named to the honor roll for 11 quarters. On the field, Cordrey earned First-Team South Henlopen All-Conference honors during her junior and senior seasons. Additionally, Cordrey was named Most Valuable Player for the Indian River High School field hockey team in 2017.

Kaleigh is the daughter of Rebecca and Keith Cordrey. She has two siblings in Zachary and Rylie, and plans to major in biology at Coker.

"It's extremely exciting to be the first signee for the Coker field hockey program," said Cordrey. "Since I've started playing field hockey, I've known I wanted to play at the collegiate level."

History of Coker Field Hockey

According to author and staff/provost emeritus, Dr. Malcolm Doubles (2008) in his book titled, In Quest of Excellence: A History of Coker College on its Centennial, Coker offered 'class teams', which included field hockey dating back to 1930. Doubles (2008) states, "By 1955, Coker teams were venturing out to compete against teams within the state. The field hockey team went to Rock Hill to compete against Winthrop" (p. 215). Field hockey was discontinued as a Coker sponsored sport in 1977.

A fall sport, field hockey has been an NCAA sport since 1981. Currently, 35 NCAA Division II institutions sponsor field hockey. Five of those programs are within Coker's immediate geographic footprint, including fellow South Atlantic Conference institutions Newberry and Queens.

Field hockey becomes the ninth Coker intercollegiate sport added since 2010. The others were men's lacrosse (2011-12), men's volleyball (2012-13), women's lacrosse (2013-14), wrestling (2013-14), men's and women's outdoor track & field (2014-15) and men's and women's indoor track & field (2016-17). Additionally, esports was added this year and will start competing in the fall of the 18-19 academic year.