With more than 160 combined goals scored in their careers, California field hockey graduate transfers Daniella Rhodes and Bente Baekers both agreed there is a certain mindset needed to make a great goal-scorer.

"What makes us good goal-scorers is being relentless in the circle," Rhodes said. "Once we get into the circle our goal is to get one in the cage, not even get a shot on target. I want to get it past the keeper, and I want to do whatever it takes to get it in the back of the net." 

Baekers added, "You can do things at 80 percent, but you need that extra 20 percent. If you are tired, if you don't finish it, everything will be a waste
The duo also shared two other under-the-radar characteristics that contribute to making an elite goal-scorer: trust and faith.

"I'm very grateful to be on the teams that I've been on and played," Rhodes said. "From the coaches, to the girls, to the teams - they've personally had trust in me and faith in me, and that's what I would say has helped grow my confidence in goal-scoring.

"If you are fighting with each other for something, if you have a goal in mind and everyone is doing their bit to make it work, whatever it takes - you just want to do it for the team; you have a responsibility as a forward to get it in the cage."

Baekers added: "If that trust wasn't there, you'd feel a lot more selfish. And then you wouldn't score because you get in your head and you play worse. They lift us up."

Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey Shellie Onstead has noticed common traits that both players share.

"Goal-scoring comes from good experience, then they develop their unique skills from there," Onstead said. "If you watch them play, Bente is a different type of scorer than Danni, but both are very effective. The common basic skills that set them up for success are quality receptions, good spatial awareness as in knowing where they are in relation to the goal, where the defenders are, and what shot selections will work best. They both can surprise a goalkeeper with quick decisions and execution. Then there are the less technical attributes that have to do with perseverance and figuring out a way to get it done. Just pure will. That's hard to teach."

Baekers and Rhodes are two of the top-three active career goal-scorers in the nation. Baekers, who scored 86 goals at Northwestern, owns 96 career goals which leads all active players. Rhodes is tied for second-most with 66, having scored 56 at Liberty. Each member of Cal's dynamic duo has 10 goals this season, with those goals coming in bunches. 

Rhodes displayed her prowess with a four-goal outburst against Stonehill on September 9. For her efforts, she was named the America East Offensive Player of the Week. She also had the game-winning goal in Cal's thrilling 3-2 double overtime win over No. 5 Penn State on September. 1. Last weekend, Rhodes scored a pair of goals in a little over a minute of action to earn her second America East Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Baekers has scored a goal in six of the last seven matches, including a pair of goals at Bryant – her third multi-goal game of the season. Baekers is four goals shy of becoming just the 14th player in NCAA history to score 100 or more goals in a career.

Where the two differ in their opinions of what makes an elite goal-scorer is previous athletic experience. Rhodes attributes her ability to years of playing tennis, while Baekers has always played only field hockey.

"I've played tennis almost as long as I've played field hockey," Rhodes said. "I definitely feel like the hand-eye coordination and the footwork used in tennis goes into field hockey a lot, especially because the stick is so thin and there's only a certain part you can hit the ball with. So, I can say tennis helped my hand-eye coordination which helped my scoring ability."

"I've never played any other sport," Baekers adds. "I've played field hockey since I was 5, so I can't say playing another sport helps you when it comes to goal scoring."

"Great goal-scorers are both born and developed," Onstead adds. "They have to put the time into their craft and both of these forwards have done that over the course of their hockey careers and also since they arrived. They have a great work ethic in training as well as in games. That is also a common trait to past top scorers in this program, such as Valentina Godfrid, who had similar numbers on a national scale. I am happy they chose to be Bears in 2023."

The Bears return to action Saturday when they travel to UC Davis for an America East showdown at Aggie Field Hockey Facility. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. PT.