The Southern Tier might just be the capital of field hockey in this country and one of its best players, Anna Finn, is showing just that as she's currently sixth in the nation in goals. We had a chance to talk with Anna and the Windsor Black Knights in our latest Athlete of the Week.

Thirty-three--That's how many goals Anna Finn has dropped in for Windsor field hockey this season.

"It's amazing, it just lifts our whole team up knowing that someone on our team has such a good accomplishment," said junior defender Sydney Angelo. "It just wants all of us to compete with her and just be with her."

And it isn't every day that being in the top ten in the country for your sport is the expectation.

"I have all the confidence in the world in her, she knows the game really well," said Windsor head coach Taylor Lippolis. "Her stick skills are excellent. She knows how to shoot, she has a powerful shot. This is what I expected for her and even more expectations for next year."

But it makes sense when you break your school record as a sophomore and then again the next season.

"After a couple games where I would score like three or four goals and I knew that last year I got 30, breaking the record, I knew that I could probably get there before sectionals," Finn said.

Though sectionals haven't quite started there have still been some memorable moments this year.

"Our game against Deposit-Hancock, we were in overtime and I had inserted the ball and she scored it and we won the game and it was just a really, really nice moment," Angelo said.

Which is just one of many moments since being pulled up to varsity in seventh grade.

"It's crazy when we pulled her up, she was like a stud on defense for us, and then as the team evolved and as she evolved as a player, we started moving her up to the midfield and then forward last year, and then she really took off on the forward line," Lippolis said. "It just propelled herself from her sophomore season into her junior year."

But this year's a bit different.

"Compared to last year, this year, scoring goals and celebrating as a team I think we really stepped up and that just makes me happy and kind of makes me just want to score more," Finn said.

Just one job that Finn and Angelo have together.

"We're definitely just looking to build their confidence," Angelo said. "That's one of the biggest issues with younger kids coming on the team is just the confidence issue. So we're definitely just trying to keep encouraging them and helping them if they do mess up and just be really positive."

Because who isn't at least a little nervous when they come to varsity?

"My first year I was very scared to play varsity but as the years gone on, and the seniors above me put me under their wing, I've definitely developed the confidence and that "I can do it" mentality so quickly," Finn said. 

And with the playoffs looming, Windsor has one thing on their mind.

"Hopefully, if not this year then next year, definitely getting to states," Finn said. "Since seventh grade, I haven't gone to states at all. I would love to go this year or my senior year. I'd love to get there."

Which would be the culmination of hard work and talent.

"She basically went from youth, played one JV game, and then we had fully anticipated bringing her up but going from youth to varsity is a big jump," Lippolis said. "She stepped into her first varsity game, our second game of that season, and you would not know that she was a seventh grader. She was 12 years old and was just standing out amongst 16, 17, 18-year-olds and I vividly remember just watching her on the field, completely comfortable, not scared, and just we knew from that moment that she was going to be a strong player for us going forward."

Finn plans to play Division I field hockey after she graduates. The Black Knights host Moravia in the Section IV Class C Quarterfinals on Thursday.

If you want to nominate an athlete for Athlete of the Week, email [email protected] and include "Athlete of the Week" in the subject line.