The Bromfield field hockey team suffered two losses in its first two games of the season, against Lunenburg at home on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 3–0, and against Littleton away on Friday, Sept. 9, 1–0.
Last season, the team said goodbye to many key offensive players. Coach Sue Silver reflected after the Lunenburg game that she was “worried about our offense. Not so much the defense, but definitely the offense. [Recent graduate] Suzy [Opalka] had a lot of speed and [recent graduate] Maddie [Ragno] was a huge presence in the middle because she was big. I knew going in that scoring was going to be a problem.” Silver went on to explain that she “sat down with the kids and thought about things that the team needed to fix and how to do that.”
To compensate for the offensive deficit, many younger players were moved up to varsity, including sophomores Chloe Fitzgibbons, Sophie Ragno, and Alexandra O’Neil, and freshman Ella Corbett.
Freshman Ella Corbett, a new addition to the varsity team, clears the ball from the defensive end. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Senior Liz Polimou races for the ball in last Wednesday’s game against Lunenburg.
Against Lunenburg, the Trojans started with the ball and took it down the field, only to lose it due to a foul. Lunenburg players quickly passed back down the field and began to dominate the game on offense. Although Bromfield did manage to make quick breakaways up the field occasionally, it was Lunenburg taking shots on goal.
The first half of the game ended in a 0–0 tie. Although the first part of the second half was initially balanced, Lunenburg began to regain dominance and shot two goals, prompting Bromfield to call a timeout. But as Coach Silver acknowledged after the game, “We just ran out of gas. They may have been better conditioned and we just got tired in the second half.”
Bromfield returned with either a burst of energy or a stroke of strategy and managed to bring the ball near the Lunenburg goalie, leading Lunenburg players to retaliate, determined not to let one bit of their lead go. They kept the ball near Bromfield’s goal and scored their third and final goal of the game.
On Friday, the Bromfield girls held their loss against Littleton to just a one-goal margin, even though Sliver had called the showdown “maybe the hardest game of the season.”
Looking at the season ahead, Silver said, “My goal is to make the districts. I know winning the league would be really tough, so my goal is basically to make the playoffs.”
Bromfield will face St. Bernard’s Central Catholic School on Monday, Sept. 19, in an away game.
Kate Selig is a Bromfield sophomore.
