adminin three of her first four collegiate games for her South Carolina-based university college Limestone.
Now a second-year student at Limestone College, Goromonzi came out with all guns blazing at the beginning of the 2012 NCAA Division II season a couple of weeks ago in which she found the target three times against St Mary’s and Virginia Wesleyan.
In fact, Goromonzi was last week voted as Limestone’s Student Athlete of the Week after netting a double as her side beat Virginia Wesleyan 3-1 in an NCAA Division II match on September 9.
And this led the young Zimbabwean player to being named as one of 10 NCAA Division II field hockey players to watch in 2012 by NCAA.com this week.
Goromonzi joins a list that includes players from five teams that are currently ranked in the NFHCA National Poll and is one of just three players to be listed from a team not appearing in the poll.
“We are excited to see our efforts recognised on the NCAA site,” said Limestone head coach Lindsay Jackson.
“Rachel is an extremely talented player and as the programme grows and develops so do all of our players”.
Last season she rewrote the Limestone field hockey record books as she scored 12 goals and finished with 29 points to break both single season records.
Those numbers also rank second on the Saints all-time career list after just one season.
Goromonzi also appears in the individual game records numerous times, including second place marks of three goals and six points against Trine on September 10, 2011.
So far this season she has lived up to the hype as she leads Limestone with five goals and is tied for the team lead with 10 points.
Even more impressively, she has produced those totals over her last four games and has helped lead the Saints to a programme record-tying five-game win streak.
Limestone returns to action tomorrow when they travel to Louisville to face Bellarmine.
As a freshman (first-year student) last year, Goromonzi started in every game for Limestone, setting a school record for single-season goals (12) and points (29).
She also led the team with 67 shots and 38 shots on goal. During the 2011 season, Goromonzi posted a three-goal game against Trine and a pair of two goal games against Mercy and Transylvania.
The latter performance broke the programme goal record and Goromonzi was later named to the All-Rookie Squad for 2011.
Goromonzi continued from where she left from last year by scoring in three of her first four collegiate games this season.
And Goromonzi’s brilliant start to the season did not escape the attention of NCAA.com, the official website of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States, who this week named her among the top notable players returning to the field this season.
The website this week named Goromonzi as one of the players to watch this season together with Kerri Bergquist, April Daugherty, Jen Ottis (all from Merrimack), Rachael Walz of Bellamine, Carlee Dragon of Liu-Post, Umass-Lowell’s Rachel McCarthy, Amy Dando of Kutztown, Bloomsburg’s Ambaer Aulenbach and Anouil Sickman of Indiana.
Goromonzi moved to Limestone in August last year after winning herself a four-year field hockey scholarship at the South Carolina-based college.
This came after she travelled to Phoenix in Arizona, United States, in November 2010 for a field hockey tournament where she caught the eye of a number of scouts from several American university colleges.
She finally won herself a four-year scholarship at Limestone College in August last year after the school’s hockey team’s coaches viewed her video on YouTube.
The video was edited and produced by her father, Joseph Goromonzi, a former treasurer of the Premier Soccer League here in Zimbabwe.
Rachel, who is also studying for a degree in business administration, is one of four Zimbabwean female hockey players at Limestone College.
The others are Bernice Jere, Rufaro Mushavi, both from Harare, and Tanya Jansen of Masvingo.
NCAA.com’s 2012 NCAA Division II Field Hockey Players to Watch
Kerri Bergquist, Merrimack
Carlee Dragon, LIU Post
Rachael Walz, Bellarmine
Amy Dando, Kutztown
April Daugherty, Merrimack
Rachel McCarthy, Umass-Lowell
Amber Aulenbach, Bloomsburg
Anouck Sickman, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Rachel Goromonzi, Limestone
Jen Otis, Merrimack
Online Reporter