When the Patriot League announced its All-League Preseason Team in mid-August, a week before the start of the 2026 season, among those to earn a spot was Colgate forward Morgan Willis ’27.
For the senior out of Madison, N.J., the recognition was special. It was her first time receiving the honor after being Colgate’s leading scorer the past two seasons.
Now, two months into her final season with the Raiders, Willis is living up to the recognition — and more.
With eight goals, four assists, and 20 points in nine games as of Oct. 21, Willis leads the Raiders in scoring once again. In addition, she’s either first or second in every offensive category in the conference.
Willis is enjoying the best season of her Colgate career. While hard work has paid off for Willis, she credits her teammates for making her a better player.
“I’m happy with the season I’m having,” she said. “It comes a lot from team chemistry. Goals just don’t come from individuals. Our team is meshing right now.”
Willis got off to a fast start when she picked up two goals and two assists in the first two games of the season, and she has remained a consistent scorer since then.
Her teammates are contributing as well. In a recent 4-0 win over Lehigh, four different Raiders scored, including Willis.
But with success comes expectations, which she has placed on herself.
Willis knows that everyone on the team has to do their part for the Raiders to have a chance to win. And for Willis, her job is to find the back of the net. Playing with pressure is something she has learned to accept, and has come to enjoy.
“I do feel pressure, especially in recent games when we didn’t score a bunch of goals,” she said. “It does feel like I have a responsibility to score, but it’s something I put on myself.”
Willis said she’s much more confident today than a few years ago, which has helped her elevate her game. There’s also the relationships with her teammates and the support she has received from her coaches.
Another reason for Willis’ strong play this season is the new system under first-time head coach Gareth Terrett, who took over the role in April. Eleven games into the season, the team stood at a record of 4-8. Despite losing its last three games, the team has shown plenty of promise after several tough seasons.
Willis credits the new coaching staff for introducing changes that have made Colgate a better team. One major change involved raising the intensity on the practice field. Now, not only are team scrimmages faster, but they resemble the intensity of a game.
“We have an awesome team and an awesome coaching staff,” Willis said. “I’ve had the opportunity to now have two different coaching staffs and see the differences in how we coach, how we attack different teams, the difference between intensity in practice and scouting and how we do film.”
Terrett has stressed tackling one goal at a time, starting small and building toward achieving bigger goals. One of the team’s objectives was to win a Patriot League game, which the Raiders had not done in years.
That goal was crossed off the list when the Raiders took down the Mountain Hawks on Sept. 26.
“Coach Gareth is very real about his goals,” Willis said. “Coming in, he talked to us about the first step of winning a Patriot League game, then the next step of making the playoffs and then making it to the championship.
“But it’s one step at a time and you can’t expect to go from our past seasons of not making the playoffs to all of a sudden doing it.”
The support she receives from her family is another reason why she’s become a top player. Her mother played field hockey in college while her father played two sports as an undergraduate, and their competitive spirits have rubbed off on their daughter.
“My parents have pushed me to keep working hard, holding me accountable and giving me confidence,” she said.
When it was time to search for a college, Colgate was high on Willis’ list. Growing up in the New Jersey suburbs, with New York City only 20 miles away, she learned about the University from her neighbors, who are alumni and raved about their experiences.
Willis reached out to the Colgate field hockey coaches, who were impressed with her background. She was invited for a tour. It wasn’t long before she committed to the Raiders.
“It was really important to go to a small college since my high school was small and had smaller class sizes,” she said. “I wanted to have close relationships with professors in a liberal arts environment because I had no idea what I wanted to do coming into college. I needed guidance in figuring it out.”
She took an entry-level political science course. She enjoyed the topic so much she settled on political science as a major.
Since then, she’s developed an interest in constitutional law, thanks to a course taught by Luke Bierman, visiting professor of political science. Courses involving law have become her preference, though she has studied other subjects as well — like theater and dance.
While she’s deciding on her future after Colgate, she has an interest in real estate law, which she discovered from completing an internship at a New Jersey-based real estate development firm last summer.
In the meantime, she hopes to help the Raiders reach the postseason, capping off what has been a memorable field hockey experience.
“Playing on the field hockey team has been amazing,” she said. “It’s helped me grow as a person more than an athlete. It’s been great to find myself and my core values through playing a sport.”
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