Cal field hockey graduate transfer Bente Baekers had accomplished almost everything a player could dream of before arriving at Berkeley this past fall, when she helped the Bears win their first conference title since 2006.

As a Northwestern Wildcat for four years, she was a perennial All-American and broke numerous school scoring records. Of course, these records came in conjunction to a long list of other individual accolades. In 2021, Baekers attained the crown jewel of college sports: a NCAA Division I National Championship.

Her impact at the collegiate level was immediate. In her first season as a redshirt freshman alone, she scored 28 goals — the third in the nation overall and the most ever by a Northwestern rookie.

“We knew she was that good of a player … I don’t even know if that captures how good she is,” said Northwestern assistant coach Will Byrne. “She’s a true striker, but her on-ball possession (ability) is unbelievable … she has a nose for the goal.”

Many argue that field hockey was Baekers’ calling — it had been her sole sport since age 5. Baekers tip-toed briefly into ballet with her older sister, but she quickly traded in her ballet shoes for cleats once her parents heard a local entry-level field hockey club had opened up.

Growing up in Rijswijk, Netherlands, a country that boasts a top world-ranked women’s national team, becoming a field hockey player was almost baked into Baekers.

Once she joined the field hockey club, Baekers took a liking to playing as a forward — almost every little kid’s most desired position — and displayed an unmistakable drive, or even overdrive, for the position.

“My dad said that … if someone took the ball from me, I would run after with my stick, like, in the air ready to hit them,” Baekers said. “It was just competitiveness. I really feel lucky (for field hockey), but it’s also nice to be good at something and to develop a skill.”

There was no doubt she was good at it. After demonstrating her prowess on local club teams, Baekers soon earned a spot at the largest club in South Holland from age 11 to 18: Haagsche Delftsche Mixed, or HDM.

HDM wasn’t just any organization — it was a professional sports field hockey club that had a youth academy like Barcelona or Real Madrid. It was also the logical next step to take if Baekers wanted to be not just good, but great, and play on the Netherlands women’s national team.

She came closer to reaching that pedigree as she played on the youth national team from age 14 to 16. During the same period, she won the 2015 and 2018 Indoor National Championships with HDM. Baekers was becoming a decorated player under the bright lights of Dutch field hockey.

However, the outside pressures of Baekers’ post-high-school plans were quite intense. From the onset at HDM, she planned on playing professional field hockey in pursuit of the Olympic dream. But a much harsher reality accompanied that dream.

“At the time, I didn’t know that America was an opportunity … and I would be like, ‘Is it worth it?’ … Not having a degree, making $2,000 a month (as a professional) and just playing field hockey the whole time,” Baekers said.

By the time she was 17, Baekers realized that she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get a first-class education and further her playing career in the NCAA. But it would also mean sacrificing her paramount goal of the Olympics — a pathway most of her teammates chose to attempt.

“When you go to America, you say goodbye to the dream of going to the Olympics and the Dutch national team and getting an Olympic medal because in these four years, the girls that stay at home, they get so much better,” Baekers said. “So for the longest time, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s maybe like a downgrade.’ But honestly, getting an education is worth so much more.”

Opportunity met preparation when Northwestern coincidentally played an exhibition match against HDM. The two teams tied, and Northwestern verbally gave her an offer. She formally committed in the spring of 2018.

“In the beginning, my dad thought I was making a mistake, but now he has the American flag in his house and he’s, like, so obsessed with it,” Baekers laughed. “(Northwestern was) amazing … I was in the middle (tier as a student) and so my future was not looking so bright. I was not getting into the best schools in the Netherlands.”

But just as she was about to embark on her new quest, Baekers tore both her ACL and meniscus in her final game with HDM during the summer.

It was one of the lowest moments of her life, Baekers said. The 18-year-old was alone in a new country, forced to watch the only sport she’d ever played from the sidelines.

Baekers put it frankly: This experience “lit a fire under my ass.” When she returned to the field, Baekers won Big Ten Freshman of the Year and registered four hat tricks that season, among a slew of other individual accomplishments.

“I was so excited to go back to play. I sat out for 14 months — I got ready, I worked on it so much and then I was like, ‘I’m gonna show everyone how good I am,’ ” Baekers said.

She put many in the American field hockey community on high alert, if they weren’t before. However, both Baekers and Byrne acknowledged that she wasn’t the easiest teammate as an underclassman. Byrne said this was due in part to her playing in the Hoofdklasse, the most competitive league in the world.

“I was really closed off and had my guard up … the only thing that mattered to me was winning in the beginning,” Baekers said. “And then I started to find a balance between realizing that some people might need different encouragement and that negativity is really not the way to hype up a team, it didn’t really work.”

In her redshirt junior year, Baekers’ personal development on and off the pitch contributed to Northwestern’s first NCAA Championship in program history. Two minutes into overtime against Harvard, Baekers scored the game-winner to send the Wildcats to the final.

“Because the (perceived) level of play was so much better in the Netherlands … Everyone always looks down upon this like, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s not as good so like it doesn’t mean as much.’ But actually winning that Natty, it was so sweet,” Baekers said before the Bears’ conference title game.

In 2022, Baekers and Northwestern returned to the championship final, but fell to North Carolina. Baekers left the pitch disappointed, but proud of what she thought was the last time.

She had established herself as Northwestern legend: winning a national title and surpassing 80 career goals to become the second player in program history and fifth player in Big Ten history to reach that milestone.

In December, Baekers returned to work in the Netherlands for six months. But by the spring, Baekers realized she wanted to maximize her fifth year of eligibility and emailed Cal head coach Shellie Onstead, eager for a new athletic and overall experience in the United States.

“I just didn’t react (when I saw her in the transfer portal), and for no real reason other than I (didn’t) think she (was) going to want to come here,” Onstead said.

Against New Hampshire on Oct. 27, that unrelenting work ethic helped Baekers earn her proudest individual accomplishment in field hockey. She became just the 14th player in NCAA history to score 100 goals or more.

“When I decided to do my sixth year, I told myself I had to get 100 goals. If I get 99, I’ll forever feel like a loser,” Baekers said half-jokingly. “So I had to get it and I’m really happy I did.”

The reward? Her teammates surprised her with a sash that read “100 & Fabulous,” a crown and a chain made out of 24 karat (fool’s) gold that both had the coveted figure.

But Baekers still wanted to clinch one last winning title. Throughout the year, the Bear group, which included five other graduate transfers, had become like a family.

Cal peaked at the right time to win eight straight games, including the conference final against Albany in a come-behind overtime victory — all as the underdog No. 4 seed.

As fate would have it, Cal qualified for its first NCAA tournament bid in 17 years to play at Baekers’ alma mater Northwestern. Despite an early exit from the championship series, Baekers would finish her career as the NCAA’s highest active scorer with 103 goals.

“She’s on the short list of best attacking players in NCAA history,” Byrne said. “She’s a name that will kind of strike fear in Big 10 programs. Like 10 years down the road … they’ll be like, ‘Hey man, that kid was good.’ ”

Baekers wouldn’t change a chapter in her story. She leaves behind a legacy as she rides into the sunset.

“It was literally beautiful. It was such a beautiful ride,” Baekers said. “I’m so happy I ended it here (at Cal) and at the same time where it all started (at Northwestern). I’m so much richer in experience, friends, academic-wise. It was beautiful. I loved it so much.”