For the past offseason, Mari Creatini has been unwittingly coaching the Boston University field hockey team.
“It’s funny because we were just watching a tape of our Wentworth spring game, and she really caught my eye because of how she holds the ball so well, and plays the ball in a beautiful position relative to her body,” said BU field hockey coach Sally Starr. “And actually, I used that as a teaching point for our athletes, how well she held the ball and how she maintained position.”
Creatini earned Northeastern News Athlete of the Year honors after dismantling the Husky record books, finishing the season with 29 goals and 72 points, totals that easily surpassed the previous records of 24 and 65. The junior’s goal and point totals were also tops in the nation, while her 14 assists were the eighth most in the country.
“I don’t think we’ve had a season like that since Keri Bettenhauser [who tied the single season high of 24 goals in 1997],” said Northeastern coach Cheryl Murtagh. “Mari is certainly the most finesse-orientated [of the previous record-holders].”
As the records started toppling, the accolades began rolling in for the junior forward. She was tabbed as first team All-American, first team All-Region, National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-Academic squad (reserved for players with a 3.33 GPA or higher) as well as being named the America East Player of the Week five times.
Her dominance of AE competition was the bane of opposing coaches, who changed around entire game plans trying to minimize her effectiveness.
“You really want to limit her touches on the ball and limit her impact on the game, she clearly cannot be shut down,” said University of New Hampshire head coach Robin Balducci. “But you do need to try to limit her impact in order to control the rest of their team. She just has phenomenal skills when she gets the ball, you have to prevent her from getting the ball, because her stick skills are just outstanding.”
The penalty corner trio of Creatini and senior captains Leigh Shea and Sara Webber, worked with deadly accuracy throughout the season. Creatini, as the push-out, would put the ball in play with a pass to Shea, who served as the stick stop. Shea would settle the ball for Webber as Creatini slid to the corner of the net, where she would redirect a shot from Webber over the outstretched goalie.
“I think with Mari, where she was most dangerous was in the circle, that’s where we felt we needed to mark her very well, deny her touches on the ball,” Starr said. “I think she scored the majority of her goals on their corner routine, so as a team we were really trying not to give corners, because that was where she individually excelled.
“She’s just a very skilled, very smart player. She’s the type of athlete that isn’t flashy, makes you say ‘oh and ah,'” Starr said. “If you didn’t know her statistics when you were scouting them I don’t think you’d have any idea the impact that she has on that team. But when she does have the ball she’s highly intelligent, and has a knack for being in the right place at the right time.”
A native of field hockey-crazed Argentina, where she spent the first half of her life, Creatini showed a flair for the dramatic over the course of the season. Among numerous game-winning goals, Creatini’s record-tying tally came on an overtime penalty stroke to defeat BU. She would break the record two days later with two goals in an 8-0 victory over Albany.
She showed she could hang with the nation’s top competition (she notched her first career hat trick against Michigan, one of the best teams in the country) as well as pound on the weaker competition (career high four goals against University of Maryland, Baltimore County).
Creatini notched the game-winning goal against Maine to lead the Huskies to their third-straight AE championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament.
It was in the NCAA’s that the Huskies’ season came to an end, and Creatini’s hot hand was contained. Connecticut defeated the Huskies 2-1, to end NU’s season 17-6. Creatini nearly struck for a game-tying goal late in the game, rattling a shot off the side of the net with less than two minutes left to play.
“First of all, you have athleticism, then you have the skill, then there’s her ability to finish, that’s a winning combination,” said UConn coach Nancy Stevens.
“We were hoping she graduated, but she’s back,” Stevens said, noting that UConn brings its own first team All-American, Lauren Henderson, into the yearly fray. “It’s nice to have two of the top scorers in the nation on the field in New England, it’s good for hockey in the region and it’s good for our rivalry with Northeastern.”
Looking back on a highlight reel season, Creatini was hard pressed to name a favorite moment.
“When I play, everything stays on the field,” she said. “But the coolest part is when you score a winning goal, a goal that really matters. Like against UNH, [when she scored the winning goal on a penalty stroke] it felt so good because the goalie had scouted me, they new I was going left and I went right, totally faked her out. That’s why we ended up playing home [for the AE tournament] because we were tied. When we beat BU in overtime, that was exciting, or that hat trick against Michigan; that was so unreal for me, my first hat trick, and they are a huge powerhouse. But the best part is scoring something that means something for the team’s season, like a game-winning goal.”
Creatini will serve as captain next year, alongside classmate Liane Dixon. The next time she serves up a field hockey lesson to the Terriers will be October 24, in person, when the games actually count.
