The referees blew their final whistles to end the last game of the season, leaving the 2022 girls’ field hockey team with a losing record of 0-12. Twelve seniors said their final farewell leaving only eight teammates behind to carry on for the 2023 season. With an almost brand new team for this season, the players are working to redeem themselves and improve their record to set a new standard for this year.
The field hockey team has been practicing consistently throughout the season with only a few practices left to attend. One priority they have is to keep up with a tradition to increase the number of friendships on the team in comparison to last year.
“We dress up for game days and do fun things for away games,” senior varsity captain Mary Powers said. “I think something that’s different is that this year we started doing more team sleepovers and more team bonding, which I think has benefitted us and we are all very close.”
To prepare themselves for their games the team practices at Poplar Tree Park after school each day and occasionally on Saturdays for two hours.
“We practice at the same time as the football team which results in us being forced to travel to Poplar Tree park everyday after school,” freshman varsity player Peyton Masich said. “However, on Fridays we are given the opportunity to practice on Chantilly’s field right after school since football does not have practice. I wish we were able to practice on the school field more frequently to save as much time as possible.”
As of Sept. 29, the field hockey’s record is 3-8 with an upcoming game on Thursday, Oct. 12. The high schools they have beat are Annandale, West-Springfield, and Marshall.
“While most people think that the hardest part of games is the technical side, along with other players on the team I struggle with having confidence on the field,” varsity senior Emily Maldonado-Lopez said. “This is the most impactful skill to have because if you aren’t confident then you wont play well,”
Compared to last year’s lineup, which was full of seniors, this year’s team has a total of 13 underclassmen. The group hopes that they will continue to grow throughout this year and next year to build strong, collaborative players.
“I think we’re going to end up being better next year than we are this year, because there are a lot of underclassmen playing right now, that’s almost our whole lineup,” varsity sophomore Amy Powers said. “And so we’ll continue to play together and grow together. So it’ll just be more fluid on the field next year, resulting in a great district record.”
