The Atoms Field Hockey team is off to a great start with a 9-3 record including scrimmages. With many district games coming up, the goal is the same for all members of the program: to win the district championship. 

Junior Lilly Flores is in her third year on Varsity, and has confidence in this group of players, ¨We´ve been doing really well this season,¨ Said Flores, ¨We started with some rough patches, but we improve more and more every day.¨

Last year, the team hoped to keep their district champions title that they earned in the 2022 season, but lost in double overtime sudden death to the Hayfield Hawks, who they previously beat during the regular season. 

¨Losing was a heartbreaker for all of us,¨ Said Flores about the team’s loss in the 2023 district championship, ¨It’s a reminder that we need to work hard in every practice so that we don’t have a repeat of last year,¨

The team held greendays twice a week, starting in June, lasting until the beginning of preseason, which began with tryouts on August 5th. 

¨The real work started during tryouts and preseason,¨ Said Junior Sofia Saavedra, ¨We would practice twice every day, there was conditioning every morning and strength every afternoon,¨

¨Though practicing so much was hard, it brought the team closer together, and spending that much time with each other helped our chemistry on the field,¨ Said Saavedra, who is also a three year Varsity member, and a first year captain

Aside from the two practices a day leading up to the season, there are also many more opportunities for the team to spend time together, like team bondings, ¨Team bonding is key for the success of our team,¨ Saavedra said, ¨Though skills are an important part, actually feeling like a team makes every difference on the field,¨

Saavedra also shares the team’s goal to win districts, ¨To prepare for our goal, we are working harder than ever, and working to work together,¨

The team graduated 7 seniors last year, including their starting goalie, ¨Our team is different from last year because we have a big mix of returning players and newcomers,¨ Said Saavedra, ¨This has proven to be a strength, not a weakness, because of the different perspectives everybody brings.¨

Of the 15 players who started the preseason on Varsity, 13 were returning Varsity members. Three more players were brought up at the beginning of the official season. 

Sophomore Emily Fields is one of the 3 who were brought up to the Varsity team, ¨I feel very welcomed by all my teammates,¨ said Fields. 

Fields is new to the sport, and enjoys being a part of the team, ¨I think the sense of community in field hockey is one of the best out of all Annansale´s athletics,¨ 

The team not only welcomed new players to the sport, but also acquired a new assistant head Varsity coach, Bella Hite. ¨I think she’s an amazing coach and coming from a D1 school, she has a lot of great advice to give us,¨ Said Fields. 

Hite graduated from Woodson High School in 2019 and American University in 2023, where she played D1 field hockey. 

For the past year, Hite coached Extreme Field Hockey, – a large field hockey organization that has teams of all age groups and skill levels, – and decided to take on coaching a high school team. 

¨I love being a coach,¨ said Hite, ¨practice is one of my favorite parts of the day and I love the camaraderie and helping other people become better at things they love,¨

Hite was recruited by fellow head coach Corin Uviedo and goalie coach Jenny Kang, ¨Coach Corin and Coach Kang asked me to coach when I started coaching at extreme after I graduated from college,¨ said Hite, ¨I live in Annandale so I thought this would be a really fun opportunity,¨

Hite has experience coaching, and some things are different when coaching a school team, ¨This is my first time coaching at a high school and I´ve never coached a team that practices every day, so that’s been a change,

¨also at Annandale the girls come to play as an after school activity that they really love, even if they aren’t super committed to playing in college,¨ explained Hite, ¨I really find that as one of the best parts of high school sports,¨

Hite also shares a goal with the players, ¨I feel like we could win championships together so my goal is to push everyone in a fun way so we can play at a higher level,¨ 

A win against Justice on Wednesday would bring the team one step closer to their goal. You can follow the Atoms Field Hockey team on Instagram @atomsfieldhockey