The girls field hockey team’s successful season continued, reaching a 6-0 overall record until a 2-0 loss to Bonita High School on Sept. 23 ended their winning streak. The team beat Bonita 1-0 last year, finishing 3-1 in a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The team’s only loss in the previous season came in a 2-0 defeat against Huntington Beach High School. The squad’s record is now 10-1 after winning consecutive games against Chaminade High School 2-1 and 6-0. The team also won against Edison High School and Marina High School in the past two weeks. 

In all of the six games before its loss to Bonita, the team won by a margin of at least two goals. Although the loss ended the team’s near-perfect record, forward Lily Saada ’22 said she believes this adversity will ultimately benefit the team.

“[The loss] can ground us and make us become a closer team,” Saada said. “It also reminded us that we still have lots of work to do, something we haven’t really learned from other games, where we’ve dominated.”

Field Hockey Program Head Erin Creznic said the players still have certain aspects of their games that they need to improve upon throughout the season.

“We need to continue to work on our defense and our ability to move up and down the field as a team,” Creznic said. “Since many of our players play the entire game, they are still working on improving their condition and endurance so that they can give a 100% [effort] for the full 60 minutes of a game.”

Saada said while talented and committed athletes like Bella Ganocy ’22, Ella Ganocy ’22 and Fiene Oerlemans ’22 have allowed the team to dominate the league in the past, beating harder opponents like Bonita require a full team effort.

“The team we played was so good that our top three players couldn’t carry us by themselves,” Saada said. “Since one thing we really have to work on is using the whole team, we weren’t able to beat [Bonita] the way we normally can beat other teams, which is by relying on [Bella Ganocy, Ella Ganocy and Oerlemans] and a few other really strong members of the team.”

 Defender Dylan Perkins ’23 said the team’s mental toughness and emotional strength will help it to regain its footing as the end of Mission League play approaches Oct. 20.

“We have a really positive attitude about everything and no matter what’s going on in our own personal lives or with school drama or anything like that, we always come onto the field and support each other,” Perkins said. “When someone has something they need to work on, we work on it together. Knowing that we have the support of each other [both on] and off the field has really helped us to trust one another [during games].”

Perkins said he hopes his teammates will treat themselves with the same positivity that they treat each other with.

“I think because we are so good and work so hard, we can be overly critical of ourselves and our little mistakes,” Perkins said. “Even though we are all incredibly supportive of each other, we need to make sure we keep the same energy for ourselves.”

The girls field hockey team will play its next league match against Bonita High School on Oct. 12.