Minium: Suus Broers Among Many ODU Field Hockey Players From Western Europe

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – As a child playing field hockey in her hometown of Utrecht in the Netherlands, Suus Broers was a high-scoring forward. Tall and fast for her age, she was so good that she earned the nickname, “Kanon.”

That’s “Cannon” in English, and that speaks to how powerful she was when she swung her stick.

But she was eventually drawn to play a position almost no one wants to play – goalkeeper. Her reason? She found swatting aside a shot headed toward goal is a bigger thrill than hitting the back of the net.

“When I make a good save in a game,” said the junior from Old Dominion, “our fans, my teammates, they all chant my name.”

Yes they do: “Suus, Suus, Suus.”

In her nearly three seasons at ODU, her name has been chanted quite a bit. She has 160 saves in 55 games, a career 68 percent save percentage and a career 1.396 goals against average.

Broers and her ODU teammates take on UConn in the semifinals of the Big East Conference Tournament Friday at 4 p.m. at Liberty University.

The Monarchs, the tournament’s third seed, lost at second-seeded UConn, 2-1, in overtime two weeks ago. Top seed Liberty hosts No. 4 seed Villanova at 1 p.m.

Broers has been a standout for ODU since stepping onto the turf in 2023, when was named Big East Co-Freshman of the Year. She has been named second-team All-Big East choice all three seasons. 

Broers is part of a long-term trend of ODU field hockey recruiting well in Western Europe. The Monarchs have been especially successful in recruiting players from the Belgium and Germany, in addition to the Netherlands.

Since 2021, ODU has had five or six players from those three countries on their roster each year. Broers has two teammates from the Netherlands – defender Serena Langendoen from Rotterdam and forward Sanci Molkenboer from Hillegom.

She also has three German teammates – defender Jule Schuurman from Krefeld, midfielder Cosima Perleth from Schweinfurt and defender Amelie Zielcke from Munich.

All five ODU players on the All-Big East team hail from Europe. 

Langendoen was named first team choice on Thursday. In addition to Broers, Molkenboer and Zielcke were named second-team Big East, as was Sian Emslie, a senior forward from Canterbury, Kent, in England. 

Former ODU assistant coach Peter Taylor, who played in the Netherlands, helped open the European pipeline for the Monarchs.

First-year assistant coach Jason Klinkradt has continued the connection. Although he’s from South Africa, he coached in Europe and speaks Afrikaans, a language similar to Dutch.

“Jason has connections in Europe,” said Andrew Griffiths, ODU’s head coach. “He has relationships with coaches all over Europe. He’s going over there at the end of November to do some recruiting.

“We will always recruit there because there are so many good players there.”

Broers almost didn't come to America. She was a standout who made the Dutch National team when she was 13 all the way up until she turned 18. And then, inexplicably, she didn’t make the national team.

“I probably would have stayed in the Netherlands if I had made the Under 18 team,” she said.

A senior in high school, she then sought out a search firm to look for a place to play overseas. Her video made its way to Griffiths, who instantly reached out to her. She was recruited by other programs, but said her Zoom interview with Griffiths convinced her to come to ODU.

“It felt like a job interview,” she said of Zoom calls with another coach. “With Andrew, the conversation was just super chill. From the beginning, I felt like I’d know him forever.”

Traveling to America to play a college sport isn’t a simple thing. There are piles of paperwork to fill out for both the Netherlands and United States governments.

“Usually the parents handle that,” Griffiths said. “But when I asked her parents if the paperwork was done, they said they had no idea. She did everything.

"She's so organized and mature. She's just always on top of things."

That mature has carried over to the classroom. She majors in civil engineering, a difficult field of study for any student, but especially for one who often rises at 6 a.m. for offseason workouts and has team meetings and practice almost year around, in addition to games.

“When I first came here, I did not expect it would be this hard,” she said. “But I think it’s been good for me. But once you get used to it, you go with the flow.”

It helps that in high school, she took classes in both English and Dutch -- her English is superb, with little to no hint of an accent. 

She and her Dutch teammates have made friends with Maarten Woudsma, the ODU football offensive lineman from the Netherlands, and have been to the Woudsma’s house in Chesapeake to eat Dutch food.

CLICK HERE to read profile of Maarten Woudsma

Reina Woudsma, Maarten’s mother, often cooks for the Dutch field hockey players. “She texts us and stays in touch with us,” Broers said. “When we see Maarten we speak Dutch with him."

With six siblings, she was homesick her first season at ODU.

"It was tough my first year here being away from my family," she said. "I really missed them. There is a six-hour time difference but we managed to stay in touch.

"My teammate, (freshman) Katie Bates, she's from Australia and the time difference there is much more difficult for her. 

“I would have to say we feel very much at home here.”

But home for Broers is across the pond. Once she graduates in May of 2027, she is headed home and will work on a Master’s degree in architecture. She said her goal from a young age was to design buildings.

She and her teammates hope to extend their season this weekend. A victory Friday and in Sunday's Big East championship game would propel the Monarchs into the NCAA Tournament.

ODU went 8-9 against a brutally tough schedule that included losses to six teams now ranked.

"I feel like we're a dark horse," Griffiths said. "We've been a little inconsistent in terms of results but have been really close to some big wins."

ODU lost at No. 10 Princeton, 2-1, on a last-minute corner. The Monarchs outshot No. 6 Liberty and UConn in one-goal losses.

"Any team we face, we know we have the potential to beat," he added.

Broers agrees, saying that "our record does not describe this team.

"We've grown so much since the start of the season. We've played such a difficult schedule, with Duke, UNC, Michigan and Liberty. And even though we lost those games, I feel like it prepared us for the postseason."

Broers said her first year away from home was difficult but that she now considers ODU her second home.

"I would definitely recommend it for any player who wants to come to ODU from Europe," she said. "It made me grow up fast. It made me mature.

"This is such a great school for international students. If I had to do it over again, I would make the same choice."

Minium is ODU's Senior Executive Writer for Athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram

To see past stories from Minium, CLICK HERE