From Comm Ave to Paris—Ally Hammel’s Journey to the Olympics

Ally Hammel decked out in her Team USA jersey. Hammel (CGS’17, Sargent’19), who played field hockey for Boston University from 2015 to 2018, is set to become the first Terrier to represent Team USA in Olympic field hockey. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
From Comm Ave to Paris—Ally Hammel’s Journey to the Olympics
Former BU field hockey star is set to become the first Terrier to represent Team USA in Olympic field hockey
Shortly after joining BU’s varsity field hockey team, Ally Hammel made a list of goals for herself: play on the US Women’s National Team, compete in a major tournament, and become an Olympian.
The list, a recommendation from field hockey head coach Sally Starr and assistant coach Tracey Paul, served as motivation. As the ink dried, Hammel (CGS’17, Sargent’19) says it was the first time she thought: “This is something that I could do.”
This summer, Hammel will cross off the last of those goals when Team USA takes on Argentina in the pool round at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics on July 27. She will become the first Terrier to represent America in Olympic field hockey.
Seeing her name on the USA roster for the first time brought tears to her eyes, Hammel says.
“Everything that I have spent a lot of time working for was finally coming true,” she says. “I just felt so much pride to be selected to represent the US.”
Hammel’s long journey to Paris began in what she calls her “favorite place on Earth”—her hometown of Duxbury, Mass. Her mother, Jennifer, was a field hockey player at UConn, where her father, David, competed on the school’s swim team. Her two younger brothers went on to play ice hockey in college, and the three siblings would often be outside playing soccer or basketball after school.
Ice hockey was her first love
When Hammel saw her brother Matt play ice hockey for the first time, she turned to her dad and said, “I want to play that sport.”The multitalented athlete had competed in lacrosse, softball, and soccer—but ice hockey quickly became her focus. Playing defense for the Duxbury High School Dragons, she was a four-time Massachusetts state champion. But along the way, Hammel also became interested in field hockey. She took up the sport as a seventh grader, when her mother started a club field hockey team and asked Hammel to join.
Hammel soon found herself falling in love with the sport. “It was so different from any sport that I had experienced,” she says. “I just love how it’s continued to change over time, and really push the boundaries.”
When it came time to apply to colleges, she was faced with a difficult decision: pursue a collegiate career playing ice hockey or field hockey. Field hockey won out. “I just decided that it was something that I was more passionate about,” Hammel says. “It was a very hard decision, coming from a sport that I had played for so long, a sport that I grew up playing.”

She first caught Starr’s eye during her senior year of high school, when she was playing in a club event at BU’s New Balance Field. Starr immediately noticed her poise on the ball, smart decisions, and quick hands. After returning to BU for another play day, Starr approached Hammel and urged her to come visit BU in the fall (Hammel had elected to spend a postgraduate year at Loomis Chaffee School).
She did visit, and after meeting the coaches, was convinced BU was the right fit for her. “They treated me like I was part of the team already,” Hammel says, “and that completely set BU apart from the many schools I had visited.”
“She was somebody who absolutely set high goals for herself, and that’s contagious when you have somebody like that on your team,” Starr says. “She really was a dream to coach.”
A midfielder in high school, Hammel started at BU as a forward, where she tied for the ninth-most goals in the conference and recorded a hat trick against Holy Cross. But her coaches thought she would thrive on the other end of the field, as a central defender. During her sophomore year, she switched to the defensive end of the field. It proved to be the right move.
In her first year on defense, the Terriers’ defense led the nation in goals against average. As a junior, Hammel became the first BU back ever to be named a National Field Hockey Coaches Association First Team All-American and was crowned Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year. As a senior, she repeated those two honors—the first two-time honoree in program history.
“She excelled. She was a really good forward, but she was an outstanding back,” Starr says.
“I just remember if someone had a breakaway and Ally was back there, I knew that Ally could handle it. She was a brick wall,” recalls teammate and cocaptain Allie Doggett (Questrom’18). “She was just someone we could rely on both on the field and off the field.”
Checking off that bucket list
Hammel competed on the US Women’s National Development Squad in her junior and senior years at BU before officially joining the US Women’s National Team after graduation, accomplishing the first goal on her list. But it wasn’t easy.
“In the first couple months, I wasn’t sure if this was right for me to continue, because it’s such a hard adjustment,” Hammel says. “Everyone’s fitter, everyone’s faster, and everyone can do every skill, maybe better than you can.”
Hammel’s first cap, or match played, against Argentina in 2020 remains a highlight of her career, because of the huge crowd and passionate fans that Argentina draws. Another favorite memory is the Olympic qualifiers in India earlier this year.

Hammel’s favorite movie is 2004’s Miracle, which recounts the 1980 US men’s hockey team’s unlikely victory over the heavily favored Soviet Union en route to Olympic gold. That theme of being an underdog followed Team USA field hockey after they failed to qualify in the 2020 Olympics.
“That was a big story for us going into the Olympic qualifier this year,” Hammel says. “We were totally the underdog going in, and I think we collectively took that story as growing our connection.”
In the weeks leading up to the Paris Olympics, she was in Charlotte, N.C., training with the USA team. When not at practice, she was working her second job, as coaching director for the Connecticut-based DELTA Field Hockey, or paddleboarding with her fiancé and her chocolate lab, Harper.
Now, as she prepares for the biggest athletic event of her career, Hammel says she’s already looking ahead to new challenges. Having nearly completed all of the goals on her initial list, she’s already compiled a second one with new goals, including making it to 100 caps and competing in another Olympics or a World Cup.
But first, she’s savoring the opportunity to compete alongside the world’s finest athletes.
“It’s a huge honor to represent Team USA, my hometown of Duxbury, Boston University, my family, and the United States of America. It’s just a huge honor,” Hammel says. “It’s taken a long time to get here, but I’m just so thrilled for the opportunity to compete at the Olympics…. I hope to go out there and show everyone what they’ve helped me achieve and what I’m made of.”
Hammel isn’t the only former BU Terrier competing at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. Swimmer Julimar Avila (Sargent’19) will compete for Team Honduras in the 200-meter freestyle. This is Avila’s second Olympics. She competed in the 200-meter butterfly for Team Honduras at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The 200-meter freestyle heats take place Sunday, July 28, at 5 am EST.
Team USA women’s field hockey will begin play at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics against Argentina on Saturday, July 27, at Yves-Du-Manoir Stadium in Colombes, France, at 1:45 pm EST. The match will be streamed live on Peacock and CNBC.
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