Field hockey started out the season strong, winning both of their opening games. With a comeback win against Quince Orchard and a high scoring game against Holy Cross, the Wildcats have a positive outlook to start the season.
Coming into the season, there were concerns regarding communication and getting the ball upfield to the attackers. This problem seemed evident for the Cats in the beginning half of their season opener against QO, struggling to push the ball out of their half and into the offensive side of the field.
“I feel like the team as a whole wasn’t connecting in the beginning of our first game against QO and our offense had difficulty getting the ball in the scoring area,” senior Sofia Reyes said.
WJ struggled offensively, but the defense held the team together to keep it a scoreless game going into halftime, giving them a chance to succeed more in the second half.
“In the second half we were able to adjust to the grass field and get a sense of how the other team played,” sophomore Nina Litcher said.
The Cats dominated the second half, with a vastly different performance than the first half. The Cougars struck first with an early goal on an offensive attack. But senior captain Gillian Rosenstock soon scored a goal of her own, tying the game 1-1 going into the final quarter.
“In order to win in the final quarter we needed to keep the game at our pace and stay strong against their players, and that’s exactly what we did; focused more on what we can control instead of frantically attacking QO,” Reyes said.
The game was very close in the 4th quarter and came down to the final minutes. The Wildcats kept up the aggression and constant control on offense for the majority of the quarter. Finally, senior Chloe Palan sealed the game in the sixth minute with a trickle-in goal.
“It felt very rewarding to bring the team in the lead and make QO embarrassed for chirping ,” Palan said.
A big win to start the season off gave the team a lot of excitement going into their home opener against Holy Cross over the weekend.
“We came into the Holy Cross game with much more chemistry and confidence especially after our hard season last year,” Palan said.
The team was in control for the majority of the game and took advantage of many opportunities with two goals from Reyes. Even with the score being 5-3, WJ felt like they were going to win until the final whistle announced it.
“I felt really good after scoring my second goal because at that point in the game we all were connecting so well that we just had to keep playing the same way we were,” Reyes said.
The team looks toward the rest of the season, determined to keep this momentum moving. But the team needs to stay disciplined if they want to keep up this winning record.
“It feels great winning both our first games but we still have much tougher games ahead,” Palan said.
