by Michael Nocella

When second-year Weedsport Varsity Field Hockey Head Coach Kathy Holden evaluated her team during August practices, she recalls being encouraged. Coming off a year in which the team was just over .500 and losing some of its best players, she tried to keep her expectations within reason.

Fast forward to late October and the Lady Wolverines ended their regular season play with a 2-1 over Morrisville-Eaton to improve to an astonishing 15-1. They will find out their playoff schedule on Sunday, October 20.

“I did not see this coming, even in August,” Holden said. “We were fast. I knew that coming in. But they’ve figured out communication. The layering needed in a field hockey team.” 

Holden explained her expectations and internal evaluation of the kind of team she had happened early on in the season. How the team responded to its early season loss to Moravia was a clue to how good they ultimately would be. It ended up being their only loss of the regular season.

“The biggest surprise,” Holden noted, “for the season was about a month ago, in practice, the team told me ‘this is what we need more of.’ I was dumbfounded. They’re telling us what they need and it shows in their desire to work on certain skills. They’re so willing. I don’t think I’ve ever had a team do that. When I say this is what you need, they’re always in agreement. That makes coaching this team a lot of fun.”

In asking Holden and several members of the team what has been the catalyst for such a great season, almost everyone pointed to the same thing: the extremely close bond the team shares. Second-year varsity player and senior defender Marlie Chapman said it all starts there.

“I feel like we really just have this connection that a lot of teams don’t have,” Chapman said. “At the beginning there were a lot of different friend groups throughout the team. At some point early on, that evolved into all of us coming together as one. That was huge. We’ve all been playing sports with each other since we were so little. Those bonds have paid big dividends. It keeps us together in the tough moments. And it makes the fun moments that much more special.”

Chapman said it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, but the team uses its closeness to weather any storms as well.

“We fight like siblings,” she said. “Which could be bad. But it could be good, too. We make up like siblings. We have such great humor. That will always stick with me about this team.”

Chapman said the team wants to keep its goal simple: play well and get as far as they can.

“We didn’t make it far in sectionals last year,” she recalled. “Coming into this year, the goal was ‘Let’s make it deeper in sectionals this year.’ That was the goal coming in. But then we realized we are a completely different team than we were last year – in a good way. We lost a lot of good players, but our young players have made so much improvement, it’s overcome that. I feel like some games, we will start out a little flat. And then we overcome it. But if we can eliminate coming out flat, that would be huge.”

A big part of the team’s closeness stems from the team’s decision to not have a junior varsity team this year. It is one big varsity family, with upperclassmen, and plenty of lowerclassmen as well. 

Junior Mallory Brown, the team’s leading scorer – and who has been on varsity since seventh grade – said that has been a blessing in disguise.

“I did not see this type of season coming to be honest,” Brown admitted. “I think we all anticipated more ups and downs. Looking back at it, we thought we’d have a JV team. But not having one has been a blessing. Having all the younger players come up and us being one – it’s been the hardest thing for us, but also what has made this team special. Our bond is really strong this year. It’s our team wanting to make each other better each and every day. That shows up in practice a lot.”

Sophomore goalie Arie Giacolone said she takes a lot of pride in helping bring the older and younger players together, which has been a process.

“From a leadership aspect, I think being a sophomore, it’s allowed me to bridge the gap between the grades above me and the grades below me,” she said. “Mashing JV and Varsity together was an obstacle. But we overcame it quickly. And now we’re one.”

In being around the team during a team dinner earlier this month, the room was filled with palpable excitement, and plenty of raucous laughs. That’s just the type of team this is, Holden said.

“They are characters on and off the field,” she noted. “I didn’t realize how close of a group they were. I knew they were close, but not this close. We’ve got relatives playing together. With a small school and community like this, you get girls who have been playing different sports together for 10 or 12 years. I underestimated how much that would help us.”

No matter what happens in the playoffs, Holden is proud the team can hang their hat on the fact that they play hard, play for each other, and have a lot of fun doing along the way.

“I want the community to know what a great bunch of kids these ladies are,” Holden said. “You listen to our undergrad give their senior speeches to our seniors and it’s really something. I knew they were good teammates but it’s more than that. They’re best friends. And it’s junior to senior, not just senior to senior. It’s really cool.”

Brown said the team is ready.

“I think we’re all pretty hyped for playoffs,” Brown said. “ We know we’re good now. Now it’s just about staying out of our own heads and playing hard.”