MC field hockey’s winning season hasn’t slowed, as evident in their win on Thursday against Mission Vista.
“We’re top of our league right now,” senior Kelly Blichfeldt said. “We used to lose almost every game but now we’re 10-4.”
As the season progressed, the team has faced challenges, but so far they are coming out on top.
“We lost a lot of players,” senior Talia Cornofsky said. “A couple people quit our team, so we had to readjust our defense. It wasn’t really normal for us, but we still won.”
Players come and go every season, and this year one of the newbies is a freshman- the only one on varsity.
“At first it was kind of scary,” freshman Eden Villalovas said. “I’m the youngest one so it intimidated me, but everyone’s really nice and I’ve made a lot of new friends.”
Part of playing on a team is the cohesiveness that pulls the athletes together.
“We’re really close,” Blichfeldt said. “It helps on the field, because we can kind of anticipate what our teammates are going to do because we know them so well.”
Seniors especially have a good understanding of the teamwork aspects of the game, but that kind of knowledge only comes with years of practice.
“We’ve definitely improved,” Cornofsky said.
Part of that development comes from the expansion of the whole field hockey unit at MC.
“When we first started, our whole program was really bad,” Blichfeldt said.
Now, the cycle continues, as the girls who were once playing with an inexperienced team are mentoring the new members.
“The [older] players have taught me how to pass and how to be part of the team,” Villalovas said.
Of course, team spirit only goes so far. The girls put in hours of practice for technique, and sometimes even those physical skills could be further developed.
“[We need to work on] connecting our passes,” Cornofsky said.
However, that doesn’t mean MC has anything to worry about. Blichfeldt especially is confident in the team’s prospects this season.
“We have a solid chance of winning Leagues and doing well at CIF’s,” Blichfeldt said.