Following in her mother and sister’s field-hockey footsteps, Jenna Deschaine had a 2017 season to remember for St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt.
The senior defender and 2014 Stevens High graduate started every game for the Purple Knights (7-11) and produced nine goals and two assists. She was named an NCAA Division II second team All-American, the 29th such honor in the program’s 45-year history and just the sixth for a defender.
“She’s known for being versatile and all over the field,” St. Michael’s coach Carla Hesler said. “Her fitness played a big part in that. She’s one of the top five we’ve ever had in that category and that helped her handle the speed of the game and recover quickly.”
Deschaine’s mother, 14-year Stevens High coach Patty Porter Deschaine, was the program’s first All-American as a senior in 1988. That squad won the ECAC championship, the first women’s team title in school sports history. Patty Deschaine, a Springfield (Vt.) High graduate who scored a then-school record 43 goals and had 99 points during her Purple Knights career, was inducted into the SMC athletic hall of fame as an individual in 1994 and as part of the 1988 field hockey team in 2010.
Despite that legacy, and the presence of her sister Megan, a St. Michael’s forward from 2012-15, on the Colchester campus, Jenna Deschaine took her time deciding where to attend college. She seriously considered Keene State before committing to a program she’d watched for years.
“Playing field hockey was my number one goal for where I went to school, and I’d been there so many times,” Jenna Deschaine said of a school with an enrollment of about 2,000. “I liked the coach and the girls on the team and it just felt right.”
Deschaine was a two-time all state player at Stevens, where she also competed in swimming and softball. She was the co-valedictorian of her class and a biology major at St. Michael’s, where she played in all 18 games as a freshman. Her first collegiate goal was assisted by her sister.
“They care a lot about each other off the field but when they’re on it, they were two separate people playing two different positions,” Hesler said.
Megan Deschaine started 51 of the 72 games she played for the Purple Knights, putting up 16 goals and 16 assists and scoring five winning goals. She’s a licensed nursing assistant at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and has plans to become a physician’s assistant.
Jenna Deschaine started 45 of the 65 games in which she played at St. Michael’s and had 12 goals and four assists. She knocked in the winning tally four times. As a junior and senior, she was promoted to passing the ball into play on penalty corners and following up the shot in search of rebounds.
“Most times, you have your offensive people do that, but she could get back on defense to help in transition if the penalty corner broke down,” Hesler said. “She also improved a lot as a finisher.”
St. Michael’s hasn’t posted a winning season since 2008, a streak Deschaine hoped to end. Still, she said she came away from the program with good memories. The Purple Knights are 30-42 the past four years.
“You find other things to take pride in,” she said. “We had lots of successful games and improvement. Even if you don’t have great seasons, you’re able to have really good chemistry with your teammates.”
Speaking of chemistry, Deschaine hopes to become a high school science teacher and coach. She plans to do her student teaching in the fall and apply for a secondary education license before job hunting throughout New England.
“I think she’ll be tremendous in that role, because she’s done so much coaching with her old club program and at our team clinics,” Hesler said. “I’m always so impressed at her ability to share knowledge about the game. She did it with her own teams here, and not just as a senior.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.