For two members of Ohio field hockey, the sport is more than a game. It’s a family affair.
Senior Marissa Higgins and junior Riley Higgins are cousins who played for a highly successful field hockey program at Assumption High School in Louisville, Ky. But the two never had the opportunity to play with each other.
During Riley’s sophomore year at Assumption, she had to sit out the whole season to recover from back surgery, while Marissa’s senior season was cut short because of a similar procedure. They practiced together, but never had the opportunity to play competitively until they came to Athens.
“I know for me I fell in love with the school and this great field hockey team came with it,” Marissa said. “As soon as I stepped on the campus I wanted to go to school here.”
Before she was recruited to come for the Bobcats, Riley had never heard of Ohio University field hockey. But family connections and former Bobcats helped guide her to Ohio.
Jessie Martin was a family friend from Louisville and she introduced me to Ohio,” Riley said. “Once Marissa came here, it was a cherry on top.”
And Riley’s brother, Branden Higgins, looked at playing for the Bobcat’s hockey team and brought his family with him on a visit. During that visit she, like her cousin, fell in love with the campus.
“I would credit her brother more than anyone in getting her here,” Marissa said. “We had heard of it from a former high school teammate, Jen McGill, who also went here. And I think she felt the same way I did the first time she stepped on campus.”
Now that they’re playing for the same program at the same time, the cousins are making the most of it.
“We definitely have a lot of fun when we’re playing and it always helps your gameplay when you’re having fun,” Riley said. “We’re really good at reading each other so we make it a good time.”
Marissa is just as enthusiastic when it comes to playing with her relative.
“There’s definitely some chemistry, especially with her on defense talking to me and playing off of each other,” she said. “It is so much fun having a family member on the team and knowing that my aunt and uncle and my parents are up there watching.”
But when it comes to training together in the offseason, the two aren’t exactly on the same schedule. Marissa is more of a morning person, while Riley likes to train later in the day.
“We might go on some longer runs, but surprisingly we don’t train often in the offseason,” Marissa said. “But now we’re together much more than we used to be in high school.”
Ohio coach Neil Macmillan loves to see fluidity between the two when they play together and couldn’t be happier to have a pair of Higgins on his squad.
“In practice you can see ‘it.’ And they’ve got, as family has, a deeper connection than just teammates,” he said. “You see that in their friendship and with their respective parents. It’s nice to have.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
