Cabrini’s women’s field hockey team began their fall season on Aug. 31 with a loss. Several games later and the team ended with a 4-13 season.
The dilemma
When failure swamps a team, it can be difficult to pinpoint the cause of it. The field hockey team has their insights, but again, it’s hard to tell.
Goalkeeper #31, junior criminology and sociology major Noelia Ramirez, believes that the youth of the team is causing some problems.
“My team as a whole have never actually played together before, due to how young our team is this season. We are still trying to build and gel together on the field. We have a lot of talent and passion for the sport but things have not clicked for us just yet,” Ramirez said.
According to Ramirez, the team doesn’t always play as a unit. Each player is very skillful, but together is what earns the win.
“We are working hard to play as a unit for 70 minutes,” Ramirez said.
Defense #26, sophomore early childhood and special education major Shannon Agnew, believes a bit differently.
“I think we have lost more games than we have won because we stack our schedule to have the harder,” Agnew said.
Despite the tough games and schedule, Agnew believes it will pay off.
“By playing against ranked teams in the nation, such as Salisbury and Rowan, it will only make us better and stronger as a team and prove that we can keep up with any team,” Agnew said.
Coach Jackie Neary, in her 23rd year coaching field hockey and lacrosse at Cabrini, seems to agree with Ramirez.
“I think we are struggling this year because we graduated 14 seniors,” Neary said.
This year’s team has nine freshman, which is almost half the team, and only seven upperclassmen. It’s easy to see that the team is fairly new, and a new team means new bonds to be built, like Ramirez said.
The grind
Despite the loses, the team is still working extremely hard to come up.
“We the coaches and the players remain positive as we encounter the struggles and continue to show up every day and put our best foot forward,” Neary said.
Ramirez gets her strength from her passion. She says that when she puts on her championship t shirt that she worked hard for, it keeps her going.
“Also playing for not only myself but for everyone on my team and staff motivates me to keep playing even when losing because without them there would be no Cabrini field hockey program,” Ramirez said.
Agnew is ready to move on.
“We will work on what we need to, so we can succeed. Each day we are together, we get closer as a unit. The team bonding we do off the field has a major impact on how we work together on the field,” Agnew said.
