The St. Lawrence University field hockey team will kick off its 2016 campaign a bit early this year, as returning players will be traveling to New Zealand for a nine-day trip that will include three games and plenty of sightseeing.

The team will leave at Tuesday, August 2, and return on Thursday, August 11.

"When we were coming in as freshman, the team had just come back from South Africa," said Carly Dziekan '17, one of the captains of this year's team. "We've been waiting three years to go on this trip, it's crazy that we're just about to go."

The team will play exhibition matches against Albany Birkenhead Collegians on Friday, August 5, faces the Auckland University Hockey Club on Sunday, August 7, and caps the trip with a match at the Rotorua Invitation X1.

"It's really great to have this preseason training session," said Dziekan. "But even though we're going there for field hockey, it's not just about field hockey. I think the team bonding aspect is really important, too. You see (your teammates and coaches) in a different light when you travel like this."

In addition to the exhibitions matches and clinics, the team will also have plenty of time to explore. They plan to volunteer with New Zealand's Special Olympics, visit Waikheke Island, tour the world famous Waitomo Glow Worm Cave and visit "Hobbiton," where the Lord of the Rings movie series was filmed.

"(New Zealand) is famous for its hiking and beauty, so I really wanted to go there," said captain Jamie Oriol '17, who just returned from a semester abroad in China. "It was my back-up plan for going abroad, so I'm glad I still get the chance to go there."

This marks the third time the St. Lawrence field hockey team has travelled abroad as part of its preseason. In 2010, the team traveled to Brazil, and three years ago, the Saints went to Cape Town, South Africa.

"Our first trip, we thought it was going to all about field hockey," said Head Coach Fran Grembowicz. "It turns out that these trips are more about the total experience of traveling together as a team and being in a different country with a different culture.

"The cultural experience is phenomenal," she continued. "In Cape Town we helped to build houses; we actually mixed cement and stacked cement blocks for a house, as well as going to a settlement and playing with little kids and offering them some things to play with."

The team will be sending occasional dispatches from New Zealand. visit www.saintsathletics.com to see pictures and follow the team's trip.