By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – Cam MacGillivray had her college career all mapped out before she began her senior year of field hockey at Bishop Carroll High School in Calgary, Alberta.
She had committed to play for a Canadian university, and she was clearly a player to be coveted. She was a member of the Canadian Junior National Team, was Female Athlete of the Year her last three years at Bishop Carroll and was a perennial honor role student.
But then the college she had chosen announced it was dropping field hockey, leaving her scrambling to find a place to play.
Her search would lead her to Old Dominion University, more than 2,500 miles away from her home, where MacGillivray has become a stalwart in goal for the Monarchs.
"I'm so glad I came to Old Dominion," she said. "It's so far from my family, but it's become my second home."
MacGillivray was a part-time starter in 2018 and has been ODU's starter the past four seasons – like every NCAA athlete, she received an additional year of eligibility because of the pandemic.
She has a career goals-against average of 1.40 and ODU has won 46 of the 65 matches in which she has been in goal. The Monarchs (11-2 overall, 4-1 Big East Conference) travel to Big East foe Temple Friday before concluding the regular season at home Sunday against VCU and then hosting Liberty Thursday, Oct. 28.
MacGillivray's sixth season at ODU – she redshirted as a freshman – has so far been her best. She's twice been named Big East Defensive Player of the Week and has a .92 goals against average, which leads the Big East and is the Top 10 nationally.
"I'd take Cam over anyone else, and that's partly because of who she is," ODU coach Andrew Griffiths said.
"She's just very much a humble, hard-working person. She has high standards for herself and she's always been a very positive person."
MacGillivray came to ODU because of a chance conversation she had with Peter Taylor, then head coach of The University of Calgary, which had a large club field hockey program for the Calgary area. Taylor knew Griffiths and also knew the Monarchs were searching for a good goalie, and the rest is history.
An Australian native who played and coached extensively in the Netherlands, Taylor came to ODU as an assistant coach in 2019 and has helped recruit several field hockey standouts from Holland and Belgium.
MacGillivray had a difficult time her first season at ODU. She was a freshman three times zones away from home living in a foreign country where the language is much the same, but in which there are also cultural differences.
It was the first time in her career in which did not play.
"It was hard," she said. "I wasn't playing and was homesick. I relied on my teammates for support, and they really helped me.
"I'm the only one left from my (recruiting class) but I'm so close with a few of them. Their families basically adopted me."
MacGillivray said she's always loved the close-knit culture of the ODU field hockey program, but said this team is especially close. And so far, the team has been especially successful.
After dropping a disappointing overtime loss at William & Mary, the Monarchs won 11 of the next 12 games. The only loss, in overtime to UConn, was a game ODU dominated, but just could not put the ball in the net. ODU has since won six in a row.
"This year has been a fun experience," she said. "Over the years we've been up and down.
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"But this team has really connected well together. We had some key players that we kept, and some others have come here from other universities.
"We're like a family this season. This is such a cohesive team. Everyone's there for each other. We want to play for each other."
MacGillivray's talents extend beyond the turf. She is a talented artist who will graduate with a degree in graphic design with a minor in general arts.
Her online portfolio is diverse, with photography and sculpture mixed in with painting and, of course, graphic design.
Cam MacGillivray's art portfolio
She loves to be creative but unlike many artists, prefers realism to the abstract. She loves to take photographs and then mimic them on canvas or paper.
But that doesn't mean that she's not creative.
Once, during a long bus trip, she "Simpsonized" every coach and player on the team, making all of them look like one of the Simpsons from the Fox TV show.
The "Simpsonized" drawing of Griffiths is on his office wall.
"She's quite good," Griffiths said. "Her art is very impressive."
MacGillivray said art is a passion.
"I love to paint in my time off," she said. "I love to draw. I'm always doodling in class no matter what's going on.
"I'm almost always doing something with art. It's something I love to do and I'm so happy that I'll be doing something in art in my career."
After six years of college, she's looking forward to getting into the working world. But she has some goals to accomplish first.
She wants to help ODU win the Big East Tournament, to be hosted at ODU on Nov. 4 (semifinals) and Nov. 6 (championship game) and return to Canada and play for the national team.
"ODU has been my life for six years," she said. "So, I've been talking to my mom a lot about what I want to do afterwards. I'm thinking about teaching art.
"But one of my dreams is to play for the Canadian National Team. I'm still enjoying field hockey too much to just give it up just yet.
"When the time comes, it's going to be hard to leave ODU. It's been such a big part of my life. My teammates and coaches, all the memories I've made here, will always mean so much to me."
Contact Minium at hminium@odu.edu for follow him on Twitter Facebook or Instagram
Minium: Cam MacGillivray Can Wield a Field Hockey Stick and Paint Brush With Equal Skill
