Girls Varsity Field Hockey fell 3-0 to Saratoga High School on Wednesday, Oct. 16. Both teams started out evenly, with a score of 0-0 at the end of the first quarter. However, SHS gained momentum in the second quarter, scoring two goals and taking a 2-0 lead by the start of halftime. After a scoreless third quarter, SHS scored its final goal in the last three minutes of the game, ending in a 3-0 final score. Despite the loss, senior and defender Annika Mehta believes that the team played beyond their expectations and has a bright future going forward in the season.
“Going into the game, we were feeling a little iffy because we didn’t do so well in our last game,” Mehta said. “So I didn’t think we were gonna be able to push through and make progress like we did. But I think we really surpassed my expectations, and overall just did really well, much better than I thought.”
Head Coach Amelia de Leon concurs with Mehta and believes that the team was far more successful switching between defense and offense than in previous matches throughout the season. She attributes this improvement to better communication when moving into the attacking circle. However, she noticed several instances of opponents being left open in the defensive circle due to weak communication.
“They had a very fast team, so there were several times where they were able to run faster than us, but we still did a pretty good job of compensating for that by filling in with other players to increase pressure,” de Leon said. “But sometimes the communication there just falls apart and we have no one pressuring the ball, so SHS is just able to advance way up the field, just by nature of how fast they are.”
Senior and forward Tvisha Jain also noticed several areas for improvement, most notably in improved positioning where she says staggering the defensive line could open up more passing opportunities and prevent the team from losing possession of the ball under pressure. Despite these challenges, she still remains optimistic about the remaining games in the season due to the team’s improved performance in this match.
“Since we played a lot better this game, we can take that into our next games,” Jain said. “We are playing four senior nights, including ours, so the other team is going to be really pumped, but considering how we played this game, we can really take that into our next game and keep the energy up through all four quarters.”
