Hannah Barreca Senior Profile

DURHAM, N.C. – GoDuke.com recently caught up with Oceanport, N.J., native Hannah Barreca to reflect on her four years at Duke.

GoDuke.com: What has been your favorite place to compete over the past four years?
Hannah Barreca: Definitely the home turf. There's nothing like coming out here, to the place that you practice every single day, and getting the chance to play on Friday nights and Sundays. Other than that, competing in the national championship [at Old Dominion in 2013] was awesome and a great environment, great setting.

GoDuke.com: What is a lesson you've learned from this program that you hope to take with you moving forward?
HB: For me, it's that you can always get better at what you're doing. You come in here, obviously, as a good hockey player, but to put in work every single day and see how much your game can change over the four years is really amazing. It's something that I want to take forward in my life – never settle for what you're doing. You can always get better and you can always come out earlier, stay after, just that little bit of extra to really make your game improve. Our coaches are really big on that with extra video and all those type of things, but it really makes a difference.

GoDuke.com: What is something you'll miss after you graduate?
HB: The team. We're really like a family here and it's going to be hard not being with a group of 23 girls every single day that love doing what I do and care a lot about me and that I care a lot about.

GoDuke.com: What has it meant to you to represent Duke University?
HB: Pretty much the world. It's been an amazing, amazing experience. There's no truly no better place than here. I've just been really fortunate to be able to wear the uniform and represent what I do and just put it out on the field.

GoDuke.com: What has been your proudest academic achievement at Duke?
HB: Last year, both semesters I made Dean's List, which was exciting. And then getting named to the All-ACC Academic Team last year.

GoDuke.com: Having played alongside fellow senior Aileen Johnson for a number of years now, how special has that experience been?
HB: I'm so thankful for always being able to play with her. She's obviously an amazing competitor and someone that's always made me better and made me work harder. She's a lot of fun to play with. It's been great. I think without her, I wouldn't have even started playing the game. And now to see ourselves pretty much be on the same team since we've started playing and all the way through college has been an amazing experience. It's not something we particularly planned, but we both had the same interests and both ended up falling in love with Duke, and it's been awesome being able to play with her.

GoDuke.com: What does it mean to you to have some great Duke players from your home state of New Jersey?
HB: Jersey is probably one of the stronger programs in the country for field hockey, so I was fortunate to have the opportunity to play a lot of hockey when I was younger. It's awesome. We have so much Jersey pride, the Jersey girls, so it's been a lot of fun.

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