In the last few weeks of summer, while most of us are still enjoying staying up late and sleeping in, our fall athletes are hard at work. One of the fall sports that is often over looked is our field hockey team. As the field hockey team welcomes back Head Coach Wodatch, they are also joined by new coaches, Coach Jacobs and Coach Hales.

Coach Jacobs has experience coaching field hockey and Coach Hales has been coaching girls’ soccer at Falls Church as well as teaching social studies. Managers Joo Park (12), Jordan Stewart (12) and Nico Giraldo (12) are also returning.

The Lady Jags started the season off with an away game at Robinson High school. They have played eight games since the season opener including the most recent game against our rivals, the J.E.B. Stuart Raiders. Coach Hales said about her players, “They played a really good game.”  It was a close game ending in an overtime loss but the team is already focused on next week’s game against Marshall High School.

Senior Nicole Hinojosa is playing her fourth year of field hockey.  She says, “Our defense has been playing really well but we need to work on shooting and scoring more.” The team dynamic is like none other, Nicole says: “We have a great relationship as a team.”

At the games you can see the parents, coaches and the players are all like family; win or lose they support each other. Even though the season has not been going as they might have hoped, the season is not over yet and they still have time to turn it around. Sophomore Erin Poplin says, “We’re learning from our mistakes and getting better every week.”

They have four more weeks and six more games until the conference tournament begins; after all, the postseason is where it really counts. A strong performance in the conference tournament could yield a long overdue visit to the regional tournament, but until then the team will be taking it one game at a time.