Yesterday, Sept. 3, the Convent varsity field hockey team had their first game against Marin Catholic. After 3 weeks of daily practice and a tournament this past weekend, game day had finally arrived for the Convent Cubs.
Set in Marin, an unexacting opponent arrived. Heat ended up playing an immense factor in this opening game. With the weather being 88 degrees according to The Weather App, the Cubs were exhausted.
“It was so hot and players had to get subbed out because they couldn’t breathe, they kept passing out and there was dehydration, hunger, and there was fury on our faces because we were furious at the heat,” sophomore Kokobe Foust said. “The weather app said that although it was 88 degrees, it felt like 103 and I don’t think our team would have survived without the ice rags provided by the other team,”
Although Convent lost 7-0 to Marin Catholic, this is an improvement from last year, as they had lost 11-0 in the past. Practicing in Marin, the Marin Catholic team was accustomed to the hot temperatures. With a roster of 23 girls, ranging from freshman to senior, the field hockey team had to fight hard against the varsity Marin team.
“I thought we did pretty well, considering this is our first time playing together as a team,” sophomore Olivia Kantor said. “I know we can improve over the course of the season, just like we did last year, and I am really looking forward to our game tomorrow against Archie Williams.”
Field hockey is a high paced, contact sport in which players use sticks to maneuver a small ball, with the objective of getting in into the other team’s goal. There are 11 players on a team, with a combination of a goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders, and forwards, according to Field Hockey British Columbia. Although it was created and popularized in Europe and Canada, field hockey is on the rise in the United States, according to Statista.
“I have been playing field hockey since freshman year and I joined because I wanted to try something new”, junior captain Maya Gee said. “As a captain, I think we put our best effort in despite the setbacks of the weather.”
The field hockey team’s regular season lasts from August 12 to October 25, but if the team makes the playoffs, the season will continue even longer and potentially into the players’ winter sport seasons. Coached by Allison Lovejoy, the team is excited to play more varsity games and grow over the season. However, the whole team is not so enthusiastic for the location of the 7 out of 9 games, according to Foust.
“I would like to say that I think it’s not fair to play almost all our games in Marin because of the heat,” said Foust. “I wish someone took a photo of us, we were dying – we are not acclimatized to this heat.”
