10/27/24 Highlight: Girls’ Varsity Field Hockey
Photo Courtesy of @exetergirlsfieldhockey
By JUNE KOH, SOPHIE LOW, and NAOMI MOSKOVICH
Exeter girls’ varsity field hockey played Pingree at an away game, dominating the field with a 3-1 upset. Though the team did face unexpected obstacles such as losing their starting goalie Josie Hilbert, JV goalie Arisa Yoshino was able to step up to the challenge and take her place.
Senior Lindsay Rogers said, “She did an amazing job with such great confidence, only letting in one tough goal from the Pingree offense.”
Clara Cary, another player on the varsity team, said,“Goalie Arisa Yoshino played her first varsity game and had only let in one unlucky goal and played well”.
Throughout the game, the team did get frustrated because of the tied score in the first three quarters; however, the captains were able to help the team keep their composure.
Eliot McCarthay added, “Our coach definitely started to get frustrated, especially leading into the second half, and we were still tied. So I think the captains did a really good job at balancing it out, and I think there’s this nice balance between the coach and the captains.”
In the last quarter, the team broke through the tied score and emerged victorious. The last quarter showcased the lower classmen and their talents. One of the memorable goals from the Pingree game was the last one. “It started all the way in the backfield as a lower Luvy Danielson intercepted a pass from Pingree and then quickly moved the ball on to prep Clara Cary, who then also quickly moved the ball up to prep Margot Wegbrans.
With the ball, Margot approached the other team’s defense dodging over one then putting a perfect through ball to prep Eliot McCarthy who then finished the play with a goal,” said Rogers. The lower classmen certainly showed that there are no limits for talent on this varsity field hockey team.
There had been a few moments when adjusting was needed, but the varsity team was able to beat that obstacle as well. “Pingree was crowding the middle. We had to adjust to playing the sidelines more often and not make diagonal passes,” said Cary. The team was able to read the plays well and move with the conditions they had.
The team is looking forward to continuing this momentum that they gained. They started off on a decent start, but they were slowly able to gain their stability as a team. “We’ve had three or four losses at the beginning of the season,” said McCarthy, “and then we tied, and now we won, so I think it’s just to keep riding off that momentum and continuing to get more wins.” The team is excited to start gaining more momentum and start winning more games.
This was just one of the many impressive performances we hope to see more of from the girls. Despite a few setbacks at the beginning of the season, the girls demonstrated considerable resilience with the recent wins.
The team dominated Northfield Mount Hermon on Friday, Oct. 11, leaving the field with a 7-0 upset. They now turns their focus to their next game against Austin Prep on Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 3:30 p.m.
