Penn State field hockey coach Char Morett has stressed the important role of her seniors throughout the 2002 season.

And now the season has ended and those seniors -- Kate Bender, Kelly Concini and Jill Martz -- must put down their sticks and move on.

These three seniors have accomplished more than any Penn State players have ever accomplished. They finished the 2002 season with a trip to the NCAA national championship game, the first ever trip for the squad.

And all three players will take away the lasting memory of playing on the most successful field hockey team in Penn State history.

"The trip to the Final Four and getting there was amazing," Concini said. "In the past week, I finally realized that I went to the final four. It was just so surreal."

And while no one among this trio is completely satisfied with making it so far and not coming away with the national championship, all three say they are happy that they were able to go experience the Final Four.

But the most important thing being taken away from this experience is the bond that Bender, Concini and Martz were able to build with each other and the rest of the team. Hours of practice, conditioning, weight training, flights and bus rides to games solidified that bond.

Martz remembers being stuck in Chicago's O'Hare Airport her freshman year for seven hours and not returning home until very early in the morning.

"The best times I've ever had was in the locker room and on the rides home," Martz said. "Those are the memories that I'm going to take with me the most, the friendships and the bonds that I've formed with all the girls."

Chemistry is the key to holding a team together and building a successful team. According to Morett, in her 16 years of coaching, none of her teams have had the level of commitment and chemistry that this squad has had.

"They've been more committed. They have chemistry," Morett said. "They have a bond amongst them that really makes this season special. I think a lot of that is attributed to the leadership from Kelly, Kate and Jill."

Both Bender and Concini were unsure after the 2001 season whether they were going to come back to the Nittany Lion squad. But both chose to return for their fifth year of eligibility, keeping a strong defensive core in tact.

Sweeper Concini and back Bender, who anchored a defense that recorded eight shutouts, have learned how to read each other and each knows where the other will be on the field at every time.

"Kelly and I are very good friends," Bender said. "We're very comfortable with each other on the field. We don't have to talk to each other much because we read each other's minds."

It took the two teammates almost five years to build that bond, but Concini said every year they grew a little bit closer until this year when they became good friends and roomed together for every road game.

Martz was the playmaker in the middle of the field for the Lions. A three time All-American, the midfielder registered a team-high and career-best 18 assists on top of a career-best six goals. Morett has often described her as having an intensity all her own, able to make plays happen when it seemed like there were none there.

"I would've taken a national championship over any award that I got," Martz said. "That would've been the best feeling, the feeling that everybody did it together."

Concini and Bender will both graduate at the end of this semester, with Bender moving on to graduate school to study to become a physician's assistant and Concini sticking around in State College to see where life leads her. Martz will spend next year finishing her degree in kinesiology and stay on as a student coach for the field hockey team.