Field Hockey Loses Against Tough NMH Team

Exeter’s varsity field hockey team traveled down to Northfield Mount Hermon School (NMH) for another difficult match last weekend. NMH had only lost three games this season, posing a tough challenge for Exeter’s team. Even though the girls gave their best effort, they fell 0-3, leaving them with a record of 4-6.

As for the referee, there was nothing that the girls could do about it, despite the fact that several Big Red players thought the referees seemed to be calling a one-sided game. Lower Catherine Griffin noted that, “There were many complaints about the refs… A lot of people were frustrated by their calls.” Even though the team was at first distracted by the seeming bias, they got used to it and refocused their attention on the game.From the start of the game, there were two things that proved difficult for Big Red: a couple of skilled NMH players and the referee, about whom several of the girls complained. NMH had a couple of extremely talented opponents, but these players stood out immediately with their strong play. Luckily, the Exeter girls identified the talented players quickly and paid extra attention to defending against them.

Similar to their game against Milton, the Exeter girls found themselves playing more defense than offense. While the team’s goalies played very well, stopping numerous shots, the powerful NMH proved to be too much of a challenge and were able to get the ball past Exeter’s stout defense three times. Still, the girls never gave up.

The majority of the goals scored against Exeter were from NMH’s corners. These set pieces proved to be challenging for Exeter’s defense, according to Griffin. “We did well at recovering to play defense, but I think we need to work on our defensive corners because that is how they scored most of their goals,” she said.

“There were many complaints about the refs… A lot of people were frustrated by their calls.”

NMH’s strong players proved to be a problem on both offense and defense, stopping many of the team’s attacks. The scoreless game did not mean that Exeter never took any shots. In fact, the team had many quality chances, but failed to translate them into goals. According to senior Michaela Corvi, one of the difficulties for the team this year has just been being a young team. “Playing together we are just a young team and I think if we played them again the outcome would be very different.” This optimism is shared by the entire team, and they understand that this year’s young team has plenty of potential in the future.

This Wednesday, the team will play Tilton, but they are hopeful to win because they were victorious 2-0 last year. Once the girls pass Tilton, they have a home game against Brooks for parents weekend. Coach Pacific said it will be a big game. “Not only is Brooks is strong team, but it is also breast cancer awareness game,” she said.