The Atoms varsity Field Hockey team had a bumpy end to the regular season. With three games last week, the Atoms played the most games they have played in a week all season. The Atoms went 1-2 through those three games.

On Oct. 12 after having the game postponed due to rain the previous Friday, the Atoms came out to win on their senior night.

Going into halftime with the Wolverines tied at zero, the Atoms and their coaches knew they had to strike first to win the game.

That did not happen, with West Potomac scoring at 16:00 left in the second half on their 10th shot of the game. Although, the Atoms came right back two minutes later with a deflection put in by sophomore Selam Negash, tying the score at one.

The game continued to be tied at the end of regulation and overtime, sending the game into 1v1 shootouts.

Senior goalkeeper Jenny Kang saved four of five Wolverine shot attempts while the Atoms scored on two of five, which lead to the Atoms’ 2-1 win. It was their first conference win and first win since Aug. 27.

The Atoms continued the week with disappointing losses to conference rivals Mount Vernon and W.T. Woodson, losing those games 1-0 and 5-0 respectively.

Now the Atoms look ahead to the first round of conference play, where they will attempt to protect their Patriot Conference championship title against a tough top seeded T.C. Williams team (15-1, 7-0).

“T.C. is very fast. They have quick passes and have a lot of deflections, so we are going to have to work to counter that,” head coach Cindy Hook said.

The Atoms know that very well from their 3-0 loss to T.C. earlier in the season at Minnie Howard.

“Scoring goals is really going to start back on the defensive side. You cannot have an offense without defense,” senior Ashley Britton said. “Once we can shut them out from the back, we will use the speed of our forwards to get the ball up the field and utilize our crust to keep the ball in our circle.”

Although scoring goals may come hard for the Atoms, there is one area where they really shine, their defensive penalty corners.

“I think they have been amazing. We have had a lot of really good rushes,” assistant varsity coach and head JV coach Katie Stribling said. “Against Mount Vernon last week, we allowed 18 penalty corners but they scored on none of them, so I would say that is pretty excellent.”

A large part of winning games comes with the goalkeeper and the defense. The Atoms know T.C. Williams is the best team in the conference, so keeping their offense at bay is key.

“I will definitely do a drop step and I will play back a little more to adjust to T.C.’s shot style. They always have two girls at each post so I will have to be as loud and obnoxious as I can be on the field tonight,” senior Jenny Kang said.

“We are going to focus on marking specific players and moving up with the offense when we have the ball,” senior Rebecca Soulen said. “We will also be making sure to communicate a lot with our goalie.

As the season comes to a close, coach Cindy Hook had many thoughts regarding the season as a whole.

“I think the season has been very challenging and very rewarding. We have a great group of dedicated and hard working girls,” Hook said. “They honestly give their best every day and continue to improve every game. We’ve all learned a lot and had a lot of fun doing it. It’s not over until it’s over,”

The Atoms play T.C. Williams in the first round of the Patriot Conference 7 tournament tonight at Minnie Howard field in Alexandria at 7:30 p.m.