On the night of Saturday Nov. 14, College of Wooster students damaged three field hockey goals on Cindy Barr Field, only one of which is repairable, said Nate Whitfield, operations and facilities manager of the Physical Education Center. There is currently no known culprit.

ëíI donít think it was anything against the team or anything personal,” said Amanda Artman í10. ìI think people were out on a Saturday night making bad decisions. It was upsetting to see, definitely ó I know how expensive the goals are and I donít know where the money to replace them is going to come from.”

The vandalism was noticed the following morning by members of the field hockey team. This was the day after the field hockey team won the NCAC Conference Championships game, and was four days before their National Championships, which the College hosted for the first time. This was also their last game to be played on Cindy Barr Field before the team moved to Andrews Field by the John P. Papp Stadium. Field Hockey Coach Brenda Meese stated that replacement goals can cost anywhere between $1,200 and $2,000, depending on quality. Whitfield said that the ones damaged were ìprobably close to $1,800 per cage.”† ìThose were our best ones,” said Meese. ìTheyíre probably only three years old, and should have lasted six to eight years easily.”†† The cages of the goals themselves were broken, specifically the frame, said Meese. Madelyn Hart í12, who was the first to see the damages, said, ìIt looks like they have been sat on. They were already flipped.”

ìI don’t think our entire team could have broken those the way they were ó it would have taken conscious effort,” said Brittany Montgomery í10. ìYou couldnít have just turned them over and broken them accidentally. Whoever did it must have definitely intended to break the goals.”

Meese and several field hockey team members reported that, when assessing the damage the next day, they also noticed several lacrosse cages thrown over the fences of Cindy Barr Field, as well as soccer benches thrown into bleachers in Andrews Field.†† ìWhere was campus security? It couldnít have been that quiet,” said Montgomery. ìI know you canít really blame security for vandalism, but they didnít even know about it until we told them. ìI just think itís unfortunate that people at the College choose to be destructive. It gives a bad name to the students, and doesnít make the school look very good,” said Laura German í13. ìHaving to explain we canít use our cages in a national tournament because students were being irresponsible is really embarrassing.”