Varsity Girls Field Hockey beat Lynbrook High School 1-0 on Sept. 20, in its fourth league game of the season. Junior and forward Saahithi Kancherla scored the team’s only goal during the first quarter, with the team successfully defending their goal for the rest of the game.
“I think we played really well especially towards the beginning,” Kancherla said. “We kind of lost our intensity towards the end, but I think it was just a matter of keeping the morale up.”
Head Coach Serena Yoo says the ball was on the other team’s half of the field for most of the game, giving MVHS more opportunities to shoot and resulting in their first victory of the season. She explains that although the team previously focused on endurance and stamina, for this game, MVHS concentrated on working together, which was initially a struggle.
“It was challenging because we were learning how to work as a team,” Yoo said. “There were a lot of frustrations because it wasn’t working. But overall, I think we were able to make the goal because we made those connections early on.”
The AQI value during the game was approximately 120, and junior and left midfielder Afsheen Khan was surprised the game still took place.
“Originally, we actually weren’t even sure if [we were] gonna have a game because of the air quality,” Khan said. “And then we found out that we’re gonna have the game but [have] more frequent breaks in the middle [of each quarter].”
Kancherla notes that although the breaks every half-quarter were helpful, they often interrupted the team’s momentum. Despite this challenge, Kancherla highlights how they were able to pass the ball between each other and move it up and down the field well.
Although Yoo is proud of how the team tipped the ball and scored, she says there is room to improve for the rest of the season.
“[We can] definitely [refine] our skills, like passing and receiving [the ball] well, so that we don’t lose the ball to other team positioning,” Yoo said. “I feel like if we positioned ourselves better, we would have run less, playing smarter.”
