Sarah Hasson, Central Bucks South Senior
Field Hockey
Favorite athlete: Simon Gagne of the Flyers
Favorite team: ANY SPORT from Philadelphia: Eagles, Flyers, Phillies, Sixers…the list goes one. Diehard Philadelphia fan
Favorite memory competing in sports: Competing in the National Outdoor Field Hockey Festival in Indio, California, and winning the gold medal for the top U-16 Pool
Most embarrassing/funniest moment competing in sports: “In seventh grade, my friends and I were playing around with our field hockey sticks before the game when suddenly the butt end of the stick hit me above the eye, and I was on the ground, laughing. Thinking it was only a bruise, I took my hand away from my eye, and a girl on the team screamed…indicating that I was gushing blood! That was probably the most embarrassing and most funny moment I have ever experienced.”
Future plans: “I would like to attend the University of Pennsylvania to further my education and play Ivy League field hockey.”
Words to live by: “Be Happy. Life is what you make it; it is made up of hard work and a little bit of luck.”
One goal before turning 30: “I want to have a job that I love going to everyday. Oh, and I’d like to be married, too!”
One thing people don’t know about me: “I am a chocoholic. I have an obsession with anything and everything that has chocolate in it. I am pretty happy that my favorite kind – dark chocolate – has antioxidants, making it ‘better for me.’”
Sarah Hasson is, according to her coach, a ‘throwback.’
There’s no such thing as too much work or too much of anything when it comes to field hockey for the Central Bucks South senior, who is a leader and captain of this year’s successful Titan squad.
“You could tell when she was trying out for the team as a 13 or 14-year-old she was very special,” coach Meg Hutchinson said of Hasson. “I don’t like to use the word throwback, but she really is.
“She’s very hard working, dedicated, willing to do the extra things. She’s a tremendous leader – she combines very nicely with (co-captain) Julia Goldsworthy, but she has really come into her own this year.
“I’ve watched her grow over the last four years, and she has turned into a great hockey player, but she’s a great person too, and just the combination makes her a wonderful package.”
As her team’s center midfielder, Hasson is the glue that keeps the Titans together. Beyond playing a key role in South’s transition game, she is figuring prominently in the scoring as well this season – a marked change from past years.
“She has a fantastic shot,” Hutchinson said. “She’s powerful, and she can score. She’s always been content just passing the ball, and I would always say, ‘Just shoot.’
“She’s intelligent about what she does with the ball. She’s smart at her passing. That had been a weakness in the past, but she understands the game better, and she’s very effective for us on the right side.”
These days there aren’t any weaknesses in the game of an athlete who is wrestling with the decision of where to take her hockey talents next year.
“I started late for recruiting,” Hasson said. “After the hockey festival in California, I had a bunch of schools contact me. I narrowed it down before summer to Lafayette, ODU and Penn.
“I loved Lafayette, but the funds weren’t there.”
That left Hasson with Penn and ODU. Penn plays out of the Ivy League and is highly regarded academically while ODU is a perennial Division One power.
“I’ve wanted to go to Penn for such a long time, and then ODU came into the picture,” she said. “I have this weird connection to both schools. I love them both.”
No matter where she ends up, Hasson, who also excels in the classroom, will continue to give top priority to academics. She plans to pursue a career in medicine.
“She’s very bright,” Hutchinson said. “Her academics are very important to her. She definitely has her goals set and what she wants to do with her life.”
Playing field hockey for a Division One program couldn’t have been further from Hasson’s mind until very recently.
“Soccer has always been my main love,” she said. “I started playing when I was five.”
Hasson, a four-year varsity veteran, didn’t really commit herself to hockey until she was in 10th grade and began playing in the offseason for the highly regarded Mystx club program.
Last November, her Mystx squad captured the gold medal in the top U-19 pool at the National Field Hockey Festival in California.
“I picked hockey up right away because it’s a lot like soccer with the positioning and anticipating and everything,” Hasson said. “I love it now.”
Until recently, Hasson somehow managed to juggle soccer and hockey. For seven years, she played travel soccer, most recently for Phoenix soccer club. This fall she opted to give up soccer to concentrate solely on hockey.
“I was playing on multiple teams and trying to do schoolwork,” she said. “Somehow I managed, and I ended up getting good grades. I never really suffered because of it.
“My time management is really top notch at this point with balancing all the sports, the AP classes – and I have a social life. Somehow I find time to do everything. Now that I stopped playing soccer, I don’t know how I did it.”
Hasson is a member of South’s Superintendent Student Advisory Council, and she finds time to volunteer for CIT at Summerkids Program at Mill Creek Elementary School.
She has been a major contributor in South’s early season success, and Hutchinson calls her the consummate student-athlete.
“She’s a wonderful example for being able to excel in the classroom and on the field,” South’s coach said. “Players like this don’t come along very often.”
