Varsity Field Hockey Bounces Back in Jamboree

By Selim Kim, Emi Levine, Roxane Park

On Sept. 10, the Academy’s varsity field hockey team played a jamboree, a series of three scrimmages against Pingree, Brooks, and St. Paul’s, to kick start their season. 

Exeter unfortunately lost the first match against Pingree 0-2. In the second match, things seemed to be looking up, with Exeter and Brooks tied 1-1 for most of the game. However, at the very last minute, Brooks was able to pull ahead and score a goal, setting the score at 1-2. With two losses under Exeter’s belt, the scrimmages were not looking the best for Exeter, but in the third and final game against St. Paul’s, Exeter persevered, beating St. Paul’s 2-0. 

Coach Samantha Fahey shared her thoughts regarding the team's performance. “We were still coming off of a focused and hard pre-season, so it was really nice to come together as a team. And we progressed as the day went on, which was a big positive,” she said.  

Fahey also shared some highlights from the jamboree: “We learned that different players can play different positions. We can move some people around to adjust, which is always good to have on a team, you know, different players working well together on attack and on defense. They started to feel really comfortable with each other.” 

Players on the team reflected on the course of the game as well. Lower Clare Stewart-Selvan thought the game was overall “very fun.” “It was our first real game. It was our first time playing together. So that was really fun, and very good for team bonding, because throughout preseason, this is what we were preparing for. And we lost the first one, almost had the second one... and then the last one we won, so it was perfect,” she said. 

Lower Natalia Ulbin shared similar thoughts.”It was our first game...but, I think as the season goes on, we'll definitely improve. It was also our first game together. We've been scrimmaging like half and half, so we haven't really played all together as a unit. But, I think as we go on, we'll learn how to use each other,” she said.

Many players felt the main highlight from the jamboree was watching the team improve over time.“I think we definitely got better over the course of the games, and during the last game we definitely improved. We learned from the first and second games, we definitely stepped it up and applied what we learned before,” Upper Audrey Sim said.

Upper Freya Busser agreed, believing that the games were a great opportunity for teamwork. “I think the growth from our first to last game was one of our highlights. The first one we weren't talking, and we weren't really using each other. We didn't feel like quite a team. Then in the last one, we were using each other, and we were using things that we worked on in preseason,” Busser said. “Everyone had a lot of fun, like the third game was actually fun.” 

This year, the team came a week early to campus on Sept. 1 for their preseason training. “Preseason was fun. We ate every meal together [and] we spent a lot of time together. A lot of bonding. We definitely got really close in those few, couple of days,” Sim said.

However, the training definitely wasn’t easy according to senior captain Eden Welch: “The conditioning, early mornings, and double practice days were certainly tough, but we looked to each other and kept pushing the whole way through.” Welch continued on to share one of her highlights from preseason. “We scrimmaged under the lights at our only night practice. The scrimmage brought some of the best energy we have had the whole season, and it served to set the tone for the rest of the week and for Saturday.”

Fahey added that “[The players] did a lot of work this summer, both with their training program pump from Coach Fisch, and from the captains and their leadership group. I try to let the team lead that for them to take ownership, but coming into preseason, they were in a much better place, emotionally and physically. Connecting was important to them. So we came in really ready to go on that standpoint.”

She also shared her hopes for the upcoming season: “We're really taking it one game at a time. Obviously I have hopes to have a winning season or above 500 season. That'd be really good for this group because we're still pretty young and we're still young in terms of field hockey as well. I just want them to have fun. I want them to feel good about playing together and playing field hockey in general. So as long as we're stepping on and off the field, feeling good about what we're doing, that's what's important to me.”

Many players echoed this sentiment. “I'm feeling pretty good. I think that we still have some things to work on and we also have some comfortability to focus on in regards to positioning…But, I'm very excited to see how we end up doing in the end. I think overall, despite our stats, I think that we're gonna have a lot of fun working together,” Busser concluded.