Brittany Croll '06 helped to usher in a new era of excellence for the Franklin & Marshall field hockey team, graduating as the school's record holder in points (119), assists (23), and game-winning goals (14), while ranking second in total goals (48). With those outstanding offensive numbers, Croll's athletic accolades were certainly well deserved and headlined by a 2005 second-team National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-American honor. A three-time all-region performer and a four-time All-Centennial honoree, what best defines Croll's contributions to the Diplomats was the scoring force that she and fellow Hall of Famer Eileen Keever formed in the mid-2000s.
Even with all of the team's success since Croll's graduation, she still stands as the only player in program history to be named All-Centennial Conference during each of her four seasons, joining Leanne McFalls '83 and Kelly Schenke '95 as the only four-time all-conference performers in program history after both of those players completed at least part of their careers in the Middle Atlantic Conference. The Croll/Keever duo broke a decade-long drought of All-Americans for the program, with Keever first earning that distinction in 2004 before Croll received her national recognition the following season.
During the 2004 season, the then-junior helped lift the Diplomats to a 16-5 record, which was the most wins in program history at the time. The season saw Franklin & Marshall advance to its first-ever Centennial Conference Tournament and resulted in a championship match appearance before falling to national power Ursinus in overtime, 4-3. It was during that season that F&M was able to break into the national rankings, a spot that remains a common place for the team today.
In Croll's senior campaign, the Diplomats were back in the conference playoffs as they began to establish themselves as a perennial power at the conference and regional levels. During that 2005 season, Croll led the Centennial Conference in shots per game (5.35) and was second in shots (91), points (40), points per game (2.35), goals (16), goals per game (0.94), assists (8), assists per game (0.47), and game-winning goals (4). Croll was equally as accomplished in the classroom, where she was named Franklin & Marshall's 2006 Environmental Studies Student of the Year in addition to receiving the John Marshall Scholarship. On top of her play in the field, Croll was further recognized by the NFHCA as a three-time selection to the National Academic Squad while also being named to the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll.
Working today for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Croll serves as an advisor to the NOAA Chief Scientist and is an additional resource for the United States negotiator for science-related items under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). She came to NOAA after a four-year fellowship with the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), working alongside the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water.
Throughout her professional endeavors, Croll has worked on complex environmental policy issues. Those areas of focus include the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, addressing coastal wetland loss, capacity building, and increasing engagement with new partners throughout the private sector. She has served on multiple U.S. delegations for the UNFCCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and World Meteorological Organization. In addition to her environmental studies degree from F&M, she obtained a master's degree in Global Environmental Policy from American University and a Master's degree from Johns Hopkins University in Energy Policy and Climate and National Security Studies.
