Hoping to win the Suburban One League Championship for the fourth time in a row, girls field hockey team looks to repeat their playoff push with a new young squad led by a few returning upperclassmen.
Sometimes, a team’s age and experience can have a direct correlation with their success.
“We have a very young team,” head coach Susan Casciato said. “We lost a lot to graduation last year.”
This year’s team only has five seniors when they have to put ten field players and a goalie out onto the field. Despite the lack of seniors, the leadership role of those five seniors have increased dramatically.
The role of being captain during games rotates between the five, but amongst the team they are all captains. Communication is one of the main ways some of the seniors help lead the team.
“I think if a goalie can step up and be a leader,” goalie coach Claire McAllister said, “that’s really important because otherwise sometimes their role almost disappears in games if they don’t make themselves that vocal leader.”
Most teams have a way to promote leadership and team bonding.
According to Casciato, the team breaks up the underclassmen into families which are each led by an upperclassmen.
“The dynamic is just showing leadership when you can,” senior captain Ashley Paturzo said. “The upperclassmen try to help out the younger players and then the younger players respond by asking questions or seeking help.”
The different levels of experience have also allowed for the younger players to learn. “I think them being on varsity as freshmen and seeing how much different it is from middle school to high school and how much you actually have to care,” senior goalie Meredith DeMarzio said.
How a team interacts with each other can be a critical part of how a team plays on the field.
Despite being young, players gets along with each other well. According to DeMarzio, last year’s team argued with one another over lots of things but this year, they all click with one another.
“It’s definitely a positive group,” Casciato said. “They work hard together. They are really supportive of each other.”
Even though Souderton will not be as highly ranked or favored as previous years, they still are looking to advance their status. Earlier this season, Souderton beat Neshaminy in a 2-1 victory at home.
“I feel like if we put in the effort that we have, we’ll definitely get far in the playoffs,” DeMarzio said.
Paturzo said that being in an unideal position helps them to work harder towards their goals.