Paige Hawkins brings pride, passion to Sandwich's championship season

Paige Hawkins, left, earned Most Valuable Player honors in the Cape and Islands Atlantic Division this fall, leading Sandwich with 16 goals and 76 assists. [Steve Heaslip/Cape Cod Times file] Steve Heaslip/Cape Cod Times File

It all started when a 10-year-old girl found she had developed an interest in field hockey. She took some clinics and in no time discovered she had found something special.

Sandwich High School junior Paige Hawkins kept going, and has never stopped. Field hockey is her main athletic passion and focus.

Never was that more apparent than this season, when she helped the Blue Knights capture the inaugural Cape & Islands League Atlantic Tournament championship last Friday with a goal in a 2-0 win over Falmouth in the final.

“It felt really good because we were already the league champions, so we wanted to keep the title,” Hawkins said. “Also, Falmouth is kind of like a rival, so it felt good to beat them.”

Thanks to her play during the tournament and the season, Hawkins was voted the 2020 Cape and Islands Atlantic Division Most Valuable Player. She led the team in goals with 16 and assists with seven.

There are so many good players in the league, “so that was a really big honor,” she said.

She started playing for a youth team in seventh grade, which gave her four years to develop as a player. She considers stick-handling and speed to be among her best attributes, but she knows that there is still room for improvement in her game.

“When I get the ball taken away, sometimes I quit on the ball, which I’m trying not to do as much,” Hawkins said. “I get tired quickly and it’s hard to get back on defense sometimes, so I am trying to work on that.”

Despite helping to lead her team on the field, Hawkins does not really see herself as the leader type.

“Maybe I’m a leader, I don’t really know,” Hawkins said, laughing. “I try to keep my team motivated by encouraging them and by helping them. I give them suggestions on how they can do better.”

Whether she considers herself a leader, her play and helpfulness suggest that she is. She was one of many talented players on a team that won the Cape & Islands League Atlantic Division with a record of 8-1-1. 

“I think we are good because we are really close off the field, so it helps when we are on the field,” Hawkins said. “We support each other and stay positive, even if we are losing.”

While all the clinics, training and hard work have led to success for Hawkins, she says there is another reason she is as good as she is now: Sandwich head coach Kelsy Beaton.

“I look up to my coach Kelsy because she’s a really good coach,” Hawkins said. “She knows how to help everybody improve. She is also not too nice. She doesn’t criticize us, but helps us become the best player we can.”

For Beaton, the feeling is mutual. She says that Hawkins makes her smile every day and that she is a “lighthearted” person. As for her play on the field, Beaton knows that Hawkins is a key factor in how well the team has played this season. This year the number of field players has been cut from 11 to seven, and Beaton says Hawkins has taken advantage of that.

“With the field being so open, it has really shined a spotlight on her abilities,” Beaton said. “There are some players who are flashy, but with Paige, her timing and stick work are very highlighted this year because of the field being so slim. She has more space to move. She just has a way of finding the back of the net.”

Hawkins’ senior teammate Molly Dwyer says that Hawkins is a really good friend and teammate and someone you can always count on.

“She’s a really supportive teammate and she’s always rooting for everyone,” Dwyer said. “She is really reliable because you can always count on her to score a goal or make a play for our team. She is always upbeat and has really good humor.”

Hawkins’ teammates and coaching staff are not the only ones who have noticed the play of Hawkins. Sandwich defeated Barnstable twice during the regular season, and Barnstable head coach Ashley Bishop was impressed.

“She is one of those players that you worry (about) when she has the ball, either on a stick or within passing distance, especially in the circle,” Bishop said. “It’s hard to put a game plan together to contain her because she has a lot of different skills. When she has the ball, generally something happens.”

Hawkins’ goal is to play field hockey at the collegiate level. She does not have any current scholarship offers or a particular school in mind, but she would like to attend a school in the South.

She says she has not thought about what her major in college will be, because she has another year to think that over. However, she does have a school in mind where she’d love to play field hockey.

“A dream school would be somewhere like Duke, but that’s a little out of reach” Hawkins said.

While most students take breaks between sports seasons, not Hawkins. After field hockey is over in the fall, she plays high school hockey in the winter. When asked about her hobbies, Hawkins responded with one word: “Hockey.”

Sandwich’s Paige Hawkins, center, earned the respect of Barnstable head coach Ashley Bishop this season. “She is one of those players that you worry (about) when she has the ball, either on a stick or within passing distance, especially in the circle,” Bishop said. [Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times file] Merrily Cassidy/Cape Cod Times