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When Syracuse had a vacant coaching job entering the 2023 season, assistant coach Sam Brown thought of a familiar face: Sally Rutherford. Rutherford was 10,000 miles away in New Zealand, but it didn’t matter.

SU needed a coach with goalkeeping expertise, and Brown said Rutherford was the perfect candidate. He’d previously coached her in the mid-2010s with the Midlands, a New Zealand-based field hockey club. She moved a 17-hour plane ride away.

“The fit was natural, and Sal was a bit of an adventurer, so she was happy to jump on the plane and make the most of it,” Brown said.

Rutherford has been a field hockey connoisseur since she was 5. She played on numerous club squads and earned a spot on New Zealand’s national team, where she helped it finish fourth in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

After her success back home, Brown’s call led her to an assistant coaching gig at Syracuse. So far in 2025, she’s helped SU’s goalies — Tane King and Jessie Eiselin — stand out at the Division I level. So far allowing just over one goal per game.

Because of field hockey’s competitiveness in New Zealand, Rutherford’s emergence onto the national stage was slightly delayed. She played the sport through high school. It wasn’t until a call from Mark Hager, the New Zealand women’s national team coach, that her career took off.

Hager’s message was clear: come to a few training sessions and she’d make the national team.

After the sessions, Rutherford’s dream became a reality.

“It’s an amazing thing to be able to challenge yourself with a group of players and travel the world and really achieve quite a big thing,” Rutherford said.

The news came not long after Rutherford was away in Maryland playing lacrosse for New Zealand at the Women’s FIH Hockey World Cup. She suited up for the Black Sticks, New Zealand’s national field hockey team, just a few days later.

Rutherford served as New Zealand’s reserve goalie in the 2012 London Olympics, where it finished fourth. Four years later, the team won another fourth-place finish in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“When you look back on it statistically, it was actually quite an amazing achievement for a country of our size to achieve that in the world of hockey,” Rutherford said.

Sally Rutherford high-fives SU field hockey players before a game. Rutherford, an assistant coach specializing in goalkeeping, has helped Tane King and Jessie Eiselin hold opponents to one goal per game in 2025. Courtesy of SU Athletics

Yet that experience was just the beginning of the future coach’s rise to goalkeeping expertise. At the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, Rutherford and New Zealand captured a gold medal after winning bronze in 2014.

But Rutherford was unsure of her next step, as the COVID-19 pandemic hindered her future with the Black Sticks.

Since Brown was already in the United States, beginning his coaching tenure at James Madison in 2019, he sought goalies in New Zealand who could play for the Dukes.

On the phone with Brown, where the two spoke about players, Rutherford inquired about possible coaching opportunities. The pandemic dashed her initial hopes of coming to the U.S., but she was just one call away in 2023.

Since joining SU in 2023, she’s been an integral part of the team, which has made consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. It’s currently the No. 6 team in the country, propelled by Eiselin’s and King’s dominance.

“(Rutherford) knows what it’s like to play at a high level, so she can understand our struggles,” King said. “But she can also give us really good advice, whether it’s our communication styles or just our technical skills and saves.”

Hager routinely told Rutherford to get “comfortable with being uncomfortable” during games with the Black Sticks, pushing her to her limit. SU’s assistant coach has relayed the same message to her team.

Rutherford also preaches the importance of communication between the goalkeeping unit, another piece of advice Hager emphasized in New Zealand.

“I will push the girls, but I will let them know they have my full support if they make mistakes while they’re trying to do something at 110%,” Rutherford said.

When Syracuse was tied 1-1 against then-No. 13 Ohio State on Sept. 7, King and Eiselin helped propel the Orange to a double-overtime victory by making multiple game-saving stops in goal. But their ability to hold steady in a nail-biter stemmed from Rutherford’s past in high-pressure environments.

“She kept both of us in the game. Any question I had, I’d go to her,” King said of how Rutherford coaches her and Eiselin. “She was right there with me.”

Rutherford mentioned that even though she’s not padded up on gamedays, it’s “incredibly rewarding” to see her players achieve similar success to hers.

She admits there are times when she wants to be on the field, but she doesn’t lose her connection by being on the sideline. While the adjustment to coaching took a few years, Rutherford enjoys being back in a centralized, full-time hockey environment with the Orange.

Her creativity has also paved a smooth transition to coaching. To add resistance to the goalkeepers, Rutherford has them wear elastic bands around their waists to mimic a game environment in practices. Additionally, Rutherford has incorporated new obstacles into training, helping King and Eiselin adapt to numerous in-game situations.

Last fall, Rutherford put on hockey pads and entered the cage with them. Occasionally, she’ll smack balls around with Brown during practice, but her main focus is consistent: applying what she’s learned to help the goalies.

“Her understanding of performance standards is huge,” Brown said. “The position of goalkeeping is hard; there’s only one that can be on the field at any point in time. So there’s a natural competition within competitive people for that one spot.”

Rutherford’s impact on Syracuse’s goalie tandem has been monumental. An NCAA Tournament win over Liberty in 2023. The third-fewest goals allowed in the Atlantic Coast Conference last year. A smooth transition for Eiselin and King this year.

But without a call from across the world and a strong relationship with Brown, Rutherford may have never moved into coaching.

“We’re a team that’s aspiring to be at the top in our sport, and competitors like Sal drive that fire on the sideline,” Brown said.

Published on September 24, 2025 at 10:08 pm
sabrod@syr.edu