The girls’ field hockey team filed into line in order of seniority at a team dinner at Jake’s Pizza after a 6-0 loss to Cupertino on Oct. 2, but the separation among grades ended there. After receiving their food, the girls sat together, laughing and enjoying each other’s company.
The team’s record stands at 1-7-4 as of Oct. 15. They will play Lynbrook at home on Oct. 26. Junior forward Hannah Beine leads scoring with two goals this season while a handful of other players have score one goal.
Field hockey, which has struggled with filling rosters in the past, has one extra substitute player this season, thanks largely to a strong underclassman presence on the team.
With six new underclassmen and only three seniors, the team is working to incorporate its new players with a special emphasis on conditioning.
“The size of our team has been an obstacle, but to overcome it we’ve been working extra hard on our fitness,” junior captain Sarah Rieken said.
Junior goalie Simrita Advani said the team’s drive showed during their game against Los Gatos on Sept. 25. The team lost 9-0, only a slight improvement from their 10-0 loss during the league season last year, but despite the lopsided loss, Rieken said the team was “a little more hungry for the win and more intense.”
Sophomore midfielder Jasmin Reddy, a new addition to the varsity team, said that she noticed a big difference in intensity between the JV and varsity teams because more varsity players aim to play in college rather than just learning the basics of field hockey in JV.
“On varsity, the style of play is faster and more intense,” Reddy said. “I feel like everyone wants to have even more of a good result on varsity because of the hard work ethic we use in practice.”
Olivia Kinoshita, the only freshman on varsity, has been playing the sport for three years, playing throughout middle school as well as on various club teams. She said her club team, Stanford Lightning, was already on a similar level to the varsity team, so the transition to varsity was smooth.
“I was already friends with most of the varsity girls [from the club teams], so they’re all nice and it was really easy to transition in,” Kinoshita said.
Junior right full back Ella Parr, who is recovering from an ACL injury, echoed Kinoshita’s sentiment, saying that “there is a lot of mutual respect” between the underclassmen and upperclassmen players
The team has adjusted well with incorporating the players of different ages, especially benefitting from team bonding such as the weekly team dinners.
“At first, I was a little nervous of the upperclassmen and not as confident as I was on JV, but now I feel more comfortable and confident with everyone on the team as we see each other five days a week for 2.5 hours,” Reddy said. “The upperclassmen treat us really well, and they don’t look at us differently as underclassmen.”