Senior captain Laura Nimon has four goals this season for the 7-5 Skyhawks.

KENNEBEC JOURNAL COLLEGE CONNECTIONS:
Gardiner Graduate Nimon Emerges As Leader

BY Gary Hawkins, Staff Writer

Gardiner Area High School field hockey coach Moe McNally remembers a conversation she had with Laura Nimon one day after school, extolling the benefits of playing the sport for the Tigers. In junior high at the time, Nimon had just moved from Augusta.

"She didn't want to come to Gardiner," McNally said. "She missed a ride at school and I gave her a ride home. I said 'why don't you give it a try here? I can almost guarantee you'll like it.' "

Nimon thrived for the Tigers, setting records for most goals in a season and a career, records that have since been broken by senior Hailey Chadbourne. Now four years later, Nimon's a captain for the Div. II Stonehill College Skyhawks in North Easton, Mass. McNally, Nimon said, had a great influence on her decision to play college field hockey.

"She was more a mentor than a coach," Nimon said. "She was just a strong influence in my life in general."

Nimon has scored 15 goals in her four seasons at Stonehill, a school with a strong field hockey tradition that plays in the competitive Northeast 10 Conference. Her freshman year, the Skyhawks reached the NCAA Final Four.

"It was a really good experience," Nimon said. "It's a big sport here in general."

Nimon has started all 11 games for the Skyhawks at left wing this season, and so far has scored four goals. Last season, she finished with six goals, three of those game-winners, and two assists while starting 15 of 21 games.

"She creates scoring opportunities for us," Stonehill coach Shelly Morris said. "And she's a shooter for us on corners."

Morris, who coached at Div. I Ohio University for six years, is in her first year at Stonehill.

"It's been a phenomenal change," Nimon said. "I couldn't ask for a better way to end my college career. We have a whole different presence as a team."

Nimon takes her captaincy seriously and considers herself a leader on and off the field. Even at the Div. II level, field hockey is a year-round endeavor, one that includes a winter league, conditioning and several spring tournaments.

"She's very vocal," Morris said. "She's taken to that role. She's very passionate about the team and our success."

In addition to playing field hockey, Nimon carries a double major in health care administration and economics, one she hopes will lead her into hospital administration.

"It's a good balance," she said of her studies and her sport. "Without field hockey I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

The Skyhawks lost their first four games under Morris then bounced back to win their next six. They most recently lost to UMass-Lowell in overtime and stand at 6-5-0. Morris said her club dominated in those early losses and likes her team's chances against those teams the second time around.

"Looking at the schedule, we could win without a doubt," she said. "We just have to execute offensively."