Varsity Field Hockey won 3-1 against Cupertino High School on Wednesday, Sept. 7, marking its second preseason victory. After neither team scored in the first quarter, junior and forward Tvisha Jain was able to break the tie with a goal in the second quarter. The team scored another goal in the second quarter and one goal in the third quarter, ultimately leading to MVHS’ victory despite a late fourth-quarter goal from CHS. Senior and defender Olivia Ho says the team’s effective passing and communication led to its victory.
“I think our team was doing a good job of using give-and-goes,” Ho said. “On defense, I think we were doing a really effective job of talking to each other and just making sure we were switching the field and telling other defenders where we were.”
Senior and left forward Sohni Tagirisa, who scored the second goal, agrees with Ho, noting that communication was also important on offense and allowed them to score their goals when they were looking for space.
“The strategy that helped us win the game was communicating and having quick passes,” Tagirisa said. “We didn’t just pass into space. We looked up [and] passed to our teammate because we heard their voices — we were communicating.”
Tagirisa says despite the team’s strong performance, the three-goal lead led to a loss of intensity in the fourth quarter, allowing CHS to score. Head Coach Serena Yoo says the last quarter was an opportunity for CHS to make a comeback.
“In the last quarter, you could tell they were very aggressive in the sense that they wanted the ball in the net,” Yoo said. “The fourth quarter is kind of when we got a little sloppy in terms of our play and our intensity, and so there were moments where they got really close to our goal, so [that’s] when they could have made it.”
Yoo says that the team’s preseason practice focused on the fundamentals like stick skills and passing. Going forward, both Ho and Yoo say the team will work to improve positioning and maintain intensity until the whistle.
“We’re doing a better job passing the ball around, going into empty space and dodging their defenders, [but] we definitely have things we could have worked on better,” Ho said. “Especially in this game, we weren’t positioning very well and as aggressive as I wish we were, so those are definitely things that I think our team should keep in mind going into games in the future.”
