Sports

Field hockey recharges, looks to return to form

In print | September 10, 2009

Coming off a season in which their final record of 5-13 was greatly aided by the fact that they had only two players to use as substitutes, members of the Swarthmore field hockey team could be excused for writing off 2008 to bad luck.

Head coach Lauren Fuchs, however, isn’t interested in doing that.

“Yeah, we only had two [subs], but that’s not an excuse,” Fuchs said of last year’s Garnet team, her first. When asked what, then, was the team’s biggest obstacle, she instead said that “last year, most of the upperclassmen we had [on the team] were still in that ‘learning’ stage [and] trying to put everything together, and because of that, they were thinking too much out there instead of just playing the game.”

And this year?

“This year, [the upperclassmen] are more experienced [and] not thinking too much, so that’ll help us. The freshmen on the team – they’re still in that learning stage, but the experience gained [by the upperclassmen] last year will go a long way to making us a better team,” she said.

Her players share her optimism. Co-captain Joslyn Young ’10 admitted that while the lack of available bench players last year contributed to the team’s struggles, this year’s Garnet squad will improve by other means.

“We got tired last year [and] lost focus, and that hurt us throughout the season” Young said after Saturday’s game against Widener. “This year, we have to stay motivated, stay into it and maintain our focus the whole season. Most of all, we need to learn to trust each other more as a team. We also have a very strong group of freshmen this year, and that should help us also.”

The team also feels that newfound stability at the coaching level will prove beneficial. “I’m looking forward to having consistent coaching,” goalkeeper Katie Ashmore ’11 said. “We have a lot to learn from Lauren [Fuchs].”

The recent history of the Garnet field hockey team is one of conflicting trends. While the last decade has seen them capture three Centennial Conference championships, lately their success has slowed. Last year was the Garnet’s third losing season out of the past four (a 9-8 finish in 2006 being the only exception). The onus now falls on Fuchs to reverse the team’s fortunes.

To add to the challenge, the 2009 team entered the season minus five departing seniors from last year’s squad. Over the off-season, the Garnet worked on developing a new offensive attack, but will have to do so minus these five players, including their leading scorer. Veterans Young and Sophia Ferguson ’10, who were the second and third most prolific goal-scorers, respectively, on last year’s team, will return to lead the attack, but the reality is clear. This team, more so than teams past, will require as many key contributions from its young components as it will from its returners.

So far, the results have offered promise. The Garnet opened the 2009 season on Sept. 3 by beating Richard Stockton by a score of 5-2. Four players – Krista Scheirer ’11, Devon Novotnak ’11, Hoa Pham ’10 and Ferguson – have combined for five goals, taking advantage of three corner opportunities.

Against Widener on Saturday, however, the offense managed only four shots on goal in a 4-1 loss that marked the beginning of the “320 Challenge” between the two schools.

“We didn’t play our game today,” Fuchs said following the Widener contest. “We played a very crowded hockey game – not our game.”

The lone Swarthmore goal was scored by newcomer Catie Meador ’13. It was the first of her college career and the first Swarthmore goal scored by a first-year this season. The Garnet will need many more moments like the one Meador provided on Saturday in order to succeed.

The first Centennial Conference game of the season, will be played today at Bryn Mawr at 4:30 p.m. In the past four years, the Tri-Co rivals have played four times, and not only has Swarthmore swept all four games but has yet to allow Bryn Mawr to score a goal (composite scoring: Swarthmore 22, Bryn Mawr 0). If any match on the schedule should allow the Garnet to play “their game,” this should figure to be it.