While in her junior year of high school, Rachel Beam would have never believed she would be a defender for the Pace University Field Hockey team, and now looking back, she wouldn’t want to play anywhere else.

For Beam, Field Hockey is not just a sport, it is a lifestyle that is rooted in her blood. She has a sister who plays goalie for the SUNY Brockport field hockey team, as well as, having her mother be the head coach her varsity team.

“She kind of watched over me and kept me on track,” Beam said.  “Always pushing me to work harder.”

Her mother’s guidance has sure helped Beam, at Stissing Mountain High School, Beam was a standout on the field hockey team being named  Poughkeepsie Journal 2015 Player of the Year as well as the 2014 Poughkeepsie Journal First Team.

Beam was certain that she would be playing college field hockey for a big name program.

“Well actually I was looking at a lot of schools,” Beam said.” My top choice was Fairfield because I had never even heard of Pace, they did not even have a field hockey team.”

However, after meeting with the then Head Coach, Valerie Hickman, Beam became intrigued with the opportunity for playing for Paces new program.

“I get to make history and be a part of something new,” said Beam. “You don’t have a reputation yet, you get to build a reputation.”

Her reputation has certainly gotten off to a good start as a Setter, her team has gotten off to a solid 2-2 record with Beam scoring the winning goal in double overtime to beat Southern New Hampshire University on September 7th.

“It’s great to score the last minute desperation goal,” Beam said. “But I would have much rather us to score in the game with no double overtime.”

Beam’s goal propelled her to be selected as the first Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division II Field Hockey Rookie of the Week.

“For my freshman year, I want to make a headline and come in with a bang,” said Beam. “But when I saw it on Twitter it was expecting and surprising, and still very nice.”

However, Beam knows that winning awards is not her top priority.

“I’m just going to keep playing my game,” Beam said. “I have gotten awards in the past, so I am going to keep playing so I can keep improving.”

Despite the Setters being a very young team with little experience, Beam is convinced that her team can compete with anybody.

“I want to go all they way to the Northeast-10 championship,” Beam said. “We are putting all of our talent together, so I think we can take any team any day.”