The girls varsity field hockey team faced a tough battle against Robert E. Lee High School on Sept. 19 as they came from behind to defeat the Lancers 2-1.
The Lancers scored first, 10 minutes into the second half, and it seemed that the Atoms were going to be on the losing end of this game.
The girls did not want to lose, and kept playing tough, desperately searching for the win.
“We continued to push at the goal. We were still working hard and it turned out that we got a penalty stroke with 9.7 seconds left and there was some discussion between the officials also it took a little while to set it up,” varsity head coach Cindy Hook said.
Senior McKenzie Yi stepped up and slotted the ball into the lower left corner, tying the game with nine seconds left.
“After McKenzie got the stroke, we realized we got this, we just need to stand up and not give up,” junior Kenzie Gardner said.
Sure enough, the team displayed their grit. In overtime, senior Megan Lee passed the ball off a corner to senior Caitlyn Schwartz, who smacked it in from the top of the circle.
“We never gave up, and we ended up winning with a very close score of 2-1,” Gardner said.
The team will be looking forward to the rest of the season, using the momentum they now possess.
“We’ve definitely been getting better every single game and we’ve made big strides over the last three games, I would expect that we’re going to continue to do that,” Hook said.
“Everyone’s been doing great, we’re having fun, we’re working hard. We’ve gone around the conference one time, and we’re getting ready to start again, so we’re looking forward to measuring how much we’ve improved from our first time.”
Hook believes her team has what it takes to succeed for the rest of the season.
“We’ve got great leadership out of our seniors that have been playing for three or four years together, so the teamwork and camaraderie they’ve got is definitely a big plus,” Hook said.
“We also have great goalkeepers, junior Sarah Hawkins and sophomore Kataryna Vejcik, who split time in the goal, and they both are doing great. We have no weaknesses on our varsity squad.”
The field hockey team has four games left, and they will be looking to garner more wins on their way to the postseason.