A fifth season grants Annabel Skubisz the chance to trust the moment and herself

In sudden death overtime of the 2023 national championship, senior goalkeeper Annabel Skubisz faced a penalty stroke.

A year earlier, Skubisz was in a similar position, once again staring down a North Carolina shooter in the field hockey title game. But this time was different.

This time, the stroke could determine the champion.

This time, she felt anything but confident before the game.

“My warmup for the national championship, I was a wreck,” Skubisz said. “I wasn’t saving anything. My head is having these thoughts, ‘I’m going to be the reason we lose.’”

North Carolina won both championships, but in both scenarios, Skubisz blocked the stroke.

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“I know she doesn’t always feel confident in herself, especially in playoffs,” said teammate Lauren Hunter. “But the team thinks that she’s the best goalie in the country.”

Skubisz won’t talk about how good she is. She may not even believe that she is. She says her save percentage was high in 2022 because she faced so many shots, and although it was the nation’s best in 2023, her reaction time was slow. Regardless, Skubisz has helped set the foundation for a field hockey dynasty, leading Northwestern to three consecutive championship games and its first title in 2021.

The Texas native expected to redshirt her first year in 2020. But after senior goalie Florien Marcussen suffered an injury, Skubisz started the second game of the pandemic season that spring.

Ryan Kuttler/Northwestern Athletics

Assistant coach Georgia Holland said she knew right away that Skubisz would have a positive impact on the program because, even as a freshman, Skubisz possessed a high field hockey IQ.

In preparation to face Delaware in the first round of the 2020 NCAA Tournament, Holland couldn’t find any helpful hints about its corners. But Skubisz did, instantly noticing one Delaware player always flicked her foot if she was receiving the pass.

This detail-oriented mindset has helped Skubisz succeed.

Skubisz watched enough film to know Erin Matson would shoot right off the whistle on her stroke in the 2022 championship. Skubisz was ready for it. Just as she knew what to expect from the stroke in the 2023 title game and from a Maryland corner in the 2022 semifinals.

NU was up 2-1 with only a minute left when the Terps received an opportunity to keep their season alive.

“She had the best save I’ve ever seen in my life,” Hunter said. “It was insane, but she thought she sucked that game. I was like, ‘You made a world-class save.’”

Ryan Kuttler/Northwestern Athletics

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Skubisz, who is as humble as could be, struggles to believe in herself.

She said her coaches tell her parents, “She is a bit of a nutcase. She always stresses herself out and thinks she’s doing horribly.”

“They’ve asked me, ‘How do we help you not spiral so much?’ I’m like, ‘If I knew, I’d stop doing it too.’”

At the start of her junior year, Skubisz said she felt the USA system was pushing her out of its pipeline. Becoming a starter for the national team no longer felt like a possibility.

“This is my dream, but it’s not my future,” Skubisz said. “After having some identity crises and breakdowns, I figured field hockey is going to end in college for me.”

Skubisz focused on finding a consulting internship for the 2023 summer, as she rounded out a dominant 2022 campaign during which her 111 saves marked the most for an NU keeper since 2008. She also had five shutouts, including four against top-20 teams.

Without any outside pressure, Skubisz felt dominant too.

But later that year, Skubisz learned the new USA Field Hockey coach wanted her to stay within the system. Her Olympics dreams were reignited, but a full-time internship restricted her ability to practice ahead of the 2023 season.

“I think that’s probably where my stress came from for the rest of the season,” Skubisz said. “In my head, I’ve already convinced myself I’m not good enough to be here.”

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She can’t pinpoint why she lost confidence in her senior season. Maybe it was because she felt the national team was watching once again. Maybe being a senior captain meant carrying the weight of the team. Maybe the best players just hold themselves to impossible standards.

“Se’s so smart and analytical to a fault,” Holland said. “But in the grand scheme of things, she’s never played poorly. She’s just her hardest critic and that’s why she’s so good. She’s so humble and unassuming you would never know she’s the best goalie in the country unless you saw her play.”

Skubisz always rises to the occasion. Just as she did in 2023. Although Skubisz was critical of herself, she totaled 13 shutouts and was named the Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year and an All-American.

But that doesn’t undermine the weight of her emotions. Despite what people expect from her, what her team says and what accolades she wins, she is a college student who worries if her best is enough. That humility in combination with her talent and work ethic makes for an admirable captain.

“The team looks to her,” said coach Tracy Fuchs. “She never gets too high or too low. Even when she might not be confident, she always comes through in the clutch.”

And maybe her clutchness is the difference maker that sets her apart from every other goalkeeper in the nation. But she is still human.

Skubisz studies Economics and Data Science. She makes her team laugh with her signature dance where she flails her arms and knees. She sings karaoke on the bus. And she is human in that she is working to form a healthier relationship with the sport because she knows that there are good and bad days. She’s also coming to realize that college field hockey does not always have to be about winning.

“I’m at the point now where I try to play to have fun and not towards some certain end goal,” said Skubisz.

Northwestern Athletics

Hunter said Skubisz is now willing to trust the process of working her way up the USA system to become the starting keeper.

“I can see she is ready to chase that dream again,” Hunter said. “There’s a light in her eyes. She wants it.”

Thankfully for the ‘Cats, as Skubisz works toward her national team and Olympic dreams, she’s returning for a fifth year.

Skubisz won’t set any personal goals for the upcoming season. She says that team sports require team-oriented goals, and she wants to set an example for her younger sister, Merritt, a field hockey goalie committed to North Carolina.

Hunter just hopes Skubisz remembers what all of college field hockey knows.

“She’s the best goalie in the country and [she shouldn’t] doubt herself about it because none of her teammates do.”