It started with a corner hit by senior right forward Alexa Kantor. The ball came out of the circle when senior captain center mid Jordan Rubin pushed it back into shooting range. Senior captain center forward Kendall Clark then drove it into the goal. That was the third goal for the varsity field hockey team. That occurred during the team’s first game on Sept. 7 at Poolesville. The team finished with a win 5-1 for a strong start to their season. Clark had four of the five goals and Kantor had the fifth.

The team consists of three captains, Rubin, Clark and senior Leah Kellert. There are only two sophomores on the team, defenders Emily Levine and Anna Kenealy. The coach, Welma Luus, has been coaching the team for three years and has a lot of field hockey experience herself. She played all four years in college on the University of Maryland field hockey team. “Welma is an awesome coach is always pushes us to do our best,” sophomore Emily Levine said.

Their next game was against Springbrook on Sept. 10. The game was 0-0 at the end of regular time, which lead to a double overtime. Junior Darcy Touchett was able to score a goal to give the Patriots the win. “We had a lot of pressure on us to finish the game with a win, and I was so happy I was at the right place at the right time to score that goal,” Touchett said.
During pre-season the team held weekly workouts and went to the South River Play Day, where they played three games all in one day against high schools in Anne Arundel county. Once that tournament was over the team was more comfortable playing on the field together. “I love this team and I think we’re going to keep doing really well throughout the season,” senior Mia Silver said.

Every year during pre-season, the team has attended a tournament in Cape Penelope, Delaware. This year the team was unable to go due to a miscommunication when trying to sign the team up. “I was so sad we couldn’t go because they usually always go and since this was my first year on varsity I was really looking forward to it,” Levine said.

Their game on Mon. Sept. 16 at home against the Whitman Vikings, was too late to be covered in this issue.