Field Hockey Slips 1-2 Against Nobles

This past Wednesday, Oct. 4, Exeter’s field hockey team played well against Brewster Academy and secured a victory of 6-1, adding another win to its even record. On Saturday, however, Moxie played a competitive game against Nobles, an extremely tough team, losing only by a point with a score of 1-2.

“We moved the ball down the field very quickly which helped us earn more offensive opportunities.”

Co-captain and upper Hannah Littlewood noted the successful teamwork shown on the field during Wednesday’s victorious game. “We definitely played as a team that game and worked together in order to score a handful of goals very early on.” The team’s practices have also proven to be effective, as players really focused on better movement with the ball. “We moved the ball down the field very quickly which helped us earn more offensive opportunities,” she said.

Other teammates agreed, and noted the team’s strong comeback after its loss during the previous week. Co-captain and upper Catherine Griffin also believed that the team had worked well together and played strong on the field.“Our game on Wednesday was successful because we came out with a lot of energy and were determined to maintain our winning streak,” she said.

Despite its loss against Nobles the following game, the team stayed optimistic and believed that it had a good game on Saturday, as Nobles has always been an extremely strong team. According to Littlewood, Nobles was a tough opponent since many of its players were very fast and very athletic. Griffin also noted that what made it such a close game was because the two teams were evenly matched speed wise and it had a couple really good players.

Yet even against such a difficult team, Littlewood pointed out prep Clara Geraghty’s key saves that kept Exeter in the game and all of the player’s hard work in getting back to play defense “Clara played out of her mind on Saturday. [Upper] Jane Collins, a defender, scored her first goal on Wednesday’s game, which was awesome,” she said.

The main takeaway from these games is that the team is most successful when players play as a team. Finding great success by passing the ball and working with one another during Wednesday’s game, Littlewood realizes that they could have used a little more of this on Saturday’s game, where players played a little bit more individually. “The team, again, needs to focus on working together and using each other in the drills during practice. We also need to hold each other accountable and maintain a high intensity throughout the whole practice,” she said.

Griffin expects the team to be focusing on efficient movement with ball and building stronger teamwork during Moxie’s practices, making sure that players don’t tire out by the end of long games.

“We learned that we have to work together for the full hour instead of losing energy as the game goes on. We are going to be focusing on advancing the ball up the field and maintaining our intensity,” she said.

Moxie will have its following two games next week at home, against Pingree School and Northfield Mount Hermon, respectively. With a good awareness of what the team is doing well and what it still needs to improve on, Moxie is in good shape for its upcoming games.