Over the past four years, the Hofstra field hockey team has gone from having a record of 6-14, forcing them to watch the playoffs, to making the CAA semifinals last season. One of the biggest influences on their success was their leader, Claudia Marin Samper. The senior forward from Spain is in her fourth season as a member of the Pride and has made an impact since the day she walked on the field four years ago as a freshman; she started in 17 games her first season.
Coach Kathy De Angelis said that Marin Samper has become “one of the best shooters and goal scorers that there is … not just in the [CAA] but in the nation.” Others agree with that assessment; Marin Samper was named to the All-American third team last season as well as the All-CAA first team.
At the beginning of her final season wearing blue and gold, Marin Samper has only one goal in mind; winning the CAA Finals. She feels that this team has what it takes, and that if they “push through” the tough start to the season, they can achieve the ultimate goal.
Marin Samper has been a member of four different Pride squads, all of which she said have shared a tight bond. She feels that this year’s group is a “great team” that has the “intensity … practice … and talent” to reach their potential, once they come together and find the chemistry that her teams have developed in the past.
Last season, the Pride was dispatched by Delaware in the CAA semifinals, but Marin Samper knows that the Blue Hen squad is beatable. To have a shot at taking the CAA title this time around, she believes her team will need to defeat James Madison, who poses the biggest threat.
Although she spent a lot of time talking about her teammates, Marin Samper knows that she is an integral part of the success her team is hoping for. She led the team last year with 19 goals and 16 assists. The offense runs through Marin Samper and Coach De Angelis described her as their “go-to” when they need a goal.
So far this season, the star forward has picked up right where she left off, tallying seven goals and six assists in the first seven games. In the game against Rider last Saturday, Marin Samper had one of the best performances of her Hofstra career, finding the back of the net three times and passing off three assists.
This Saturday was a prime example of how the senior tries “to always lead by example.” Coach De Angelis could not say enough about her work ethic and great example she sets for her younger teammates. Marin Samper herself added that her goal on the field is “to do the best for the team” and to “do her job.”
Marin Samper has done her job and done it well for four years, and she believes that her experiences here at Hofstra will help her once she graduates in May. She mentioned Hofstra’s diversity and how she now knows how to lead all different kinds of people.
The Spain native says she hopes to use her marketing degree to work here in the United States for a year and then pursue an MBA, possibly at home. But she was very clear that she is not ready to leave the world of field hockey behind and hopes to find more opportunities to play and maybe even coach one day.
Marin Samper brings talent, heart and excitement to Hofstra’s field hockey team, but only for a few more months. You can bet that she is going to continue to give her all and inspire the rest of her team to do the same, so that they can raise the CAA trophy at the end of her final season.