“To be honest, I was kind of nervous we would have no wins this season,” Captain of the Varsity Field Hockey team Reina McNutt (12) said, following their first win of the season. After losing their first two games against Riverdale and Hackley, the Lions beat Brearley 2-1 last Monday.

“This win was much needed,” Emmi Zeitler (10) said. “It really helped lift our spirits and will help us go into our game on Wednesday with a more positive attitude,” she said.

“It is always great to be successful after hard work and preparation,” said Coach Caroline Surhoff when asked about their first win of the season. McNutt described the teams dynamic this year as “very freshmen run” considering the freshmen outnumber the rest of the team. “But everyone is close friends between the grades and all the freshmen are super sweet and nice.” she said.

Coach Surhoff feels that all the new freshmen added to the team.“With so many new starters this season, the players are beginning to gel and play cohesively,” Surhoff said.

Junior Varsity Goalie Emily Salzhauer (9) said that the captains have been very open and welcoming towards the freshmen, she said. “We are like a family,” Tess Goldberg (9) said.

When asked about particular teammates who stood out during the last three games, each player had a different response. Salzhauer said that Kate Bown (11) had made a really good goal in the last game, she said.

Zeitler said that Sofia Subramaniam (11) did a good job with setting up potential scoring opportunities. “She is always a good team player and friend and is super competitive as well,” McNutt said, about her teammate Abigail Morse (11). McNutt also said their defender and starting Varsity Goalie Piper Wallace (10) had a lot of excellent saves.

Although extremely happy with their recent victory, the team acknowledges that they still have a lot to work on. “We definitely need to improve our energy level during the games,” McNutt said. “When we are ahead, we have a tendency to slow down by the second half of the game. Or, when we are down, we won’t even try,” she said.

Goldberg thinks the team needs to improve on their passing skills, while Piper Wallace (10) feels the team needs to work on having their sticks down and being consistent in their passing. “The team needs to work on ball handling under pressure,” said Surhoff.

The team was focused on their upcoming game against Fieldston on Wednesday. “This game will give us a heads up on what to expect at Homecoming, because we are playing Fieldston again,” McNutt said.

“We played well defensively but we had too many fouls which gave Fieldston opportunities to score.” Said Surhoff after losing their game against Fieldston 3-1. Wallace felt the loss motivated the team to redeem themselves at Homecoming.

“I feel like I’ve really made some close upperclassmen friends in the past few weeks,” Goldberg said. Zeitler agrees, and she is, “excited to see how we will grow as a team,” she said.