Field hockey is a relatively smaller sport in Southwest Ohio, with just nine schools competing for nine OHSAA Southwest regional tournament spots.
However, this also allows for each school, including the seven in the Cincinnati area, to be just a few wins away from making a big playoff run.
Here are some of the top storylines in Cincinnati for the 2027 season.
It’s almost time for the high school field hockey season in Ohio, with the regular season kicking off on Aug. 17.
Can Mount Notre Dame put Cincinnati on the map?
Mount Notre Dame has long been the most dominant team in the greater Cincinnati area, and 2025 was no different. In 2025, the Cougars swept the Girls Greater Catholic League and Southwest Ohio Field Hockey League. They then dominated the OHSAA Southwest regional championship by beating Ursuline Academy 6-0.
However, the Cougars fell 1-0 to Dublin’s Thomas Worthington High School ‒ the eventual reigning four-time state champions ‒ in the state semifinal. They finished the season with a 13-8 overall record.
This fate has been the story of Mount Notre Dame’s seasons in recent years. The Cougars have made the state semifinals in the last six out of seven years but have not advanced to a state final since 2004. In fact, a Cincinnati-area team has made the state final just three times and won once when St. Ursula beat Thomas Worthington in 2010.
As it aims for another regional title and possibly more, Mount Notre Dame heads into 2026 without some of its stars from 2025. The biggest loss is starting goalie Josie Broener, last season’s Enquirer field hockey and GGCL player of the year. Also gone will be Aubrey Ludwig, who led the GGCL with 20 goals.
Instead, the team will rely on players like senior Andie McCullough and junior Natalie Klaber on offense. Klaber ranked second in GGCL scoring with 13 goals, while McCullough was the league’s assist leader with 12. Defender Elizabeth Herzner, who made it onto the MAX Field Hockey All-Ohio second team, is also one to watch.
Which non-GGCL field hockey school comes out on top?
Beyond Mount Notre Dame, the GGCL still dominates Cincinnati-area field hockey, representing three of the four semi-finalists in 2025’s regional championship. The lone non-GGCL school in the Final Four was No. 2-seeded Indian Hill, which culminated a 16-3 season with a 3-1 loss to Ursuline in the regional semis.
Indian Hill, Talawanda, Summit Country Day and Walnut Hills are among the Cincinnati-area schools not in the GGCL that can contend for the OHSAA state tournament. Indian Hill, Talawanda and Walnut Hills are public schools, while Summit Country Day is a coed private school.
Among the biggest storylines in this group is a coaching change. Emily Betz, SWOFHL’s coach of the year in 2025, is leaving Summit Country Day to coach Indian Hill, replacing Tara Rose. Though Betz’s Silver Knights posted a 2-11-1 record and fell in the opening round of the Southwest regional, she coached players like SWOFHL Defensive Player of the Year goalie Chloe Castellini.
Now, Betz will lead a new school, which includes the likes of 2025 second-team Enquirer all-city selections Polly Holmes, Kate Lamphear and Mimi Foad. Betz, in particular, emphasized the importance of her senior class.
Meanwhile, Miami alumnae Caroline Capellupo will take the reins at Summit Country Day. With players like senior captain Natalie Neyra and junior captain Poppy Hill (the team’s points leader in 2025), Capellupo said she hopes she can ensure a smooth transition and leadership while focusing on clean passing and developing resilience within a team that has struggled competitively in recent seasons.
Walnut Hills, led by head coach Ashley Kuenzi Davis, will be eligible to compete in the OHSAA state tournament beginning in 2026. The team was elevated to varsity status in the fall of 2023 and sported a 4-13 record with wins over Summit Country Day and Talawanda in 2025. It returns second-team all-city defender Lily Pavelka, who Davis said is the team’s top defender and is capable of initiating the attack through the midfield.
Can St. Ursula or Ursuline field hockey challenge for a title?
While Mount Notre Dame is the dominant force in the GGCL, the strength of its main conference rivals in St. Ursula and Ursuline cannot be ignored.
Ursuline has faced Mount Notre Dame in the regional final every year since 2022, but it had to overcome greater odds to do so this year. It came into playoffs with a 5-11 record and the No. 4 seed, but it defeated Fairmont and upset No. 2 Indian Hill in the regional semifinals. The latter win came despite falling to Indian Hill 5-1 just 19 days prior in the regular season.
According to Ursuline head coach Shannon Costanzo, the team returns seven varsity players from 2025. Those players include all-city midfielder Andi Guy, who is the Lions’ leading returning points leader with three goals and four assists in 2025. Costanzo also expects sophomore Lila Eichmann to be a factor, as she was called up to the varsity squad during the postseason as a freshman and scored critical goals.
Meanwhile, St. Ursula was Mount Notre Dame’s biggest challenge in the SWOFHL. The Bulldogs were the only team in Southwest Ohio to hold the Cougars to just one goal, falling to them 1-0 in the regular season and later in a tightly contested regional semifinal match. St. Ursula also swept Ursuline, beating the Lions twice in 2025.
Before 2025, St. Ursula, the only Cincinnati school to win a state championship, had not posted a winning season since 2019. After finishing with a 9-8 record last season,
St. Ursula head coach Meg Niswonger Probst said she hopes to improve upon that record in 2026. She also said midfielder Maggie Mussman and defender Josie Serger will lead that charge. Mussman was a second-team all-city selection in 2025 following a three-assist campaign.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Three Cincinnati storylines for the 2026 field hockey season
Reporting by Yanyan Li, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Yanyan Li, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
