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Warriors Adjusting on the Fly as Season Approaches

The Valley Regional field hockey squad is on the precipice of playing its first game of the year, and the Warriors have a much different looking squad than originally planned. Still, Head Coach Beth McCabe Powers is eager to see what the Warriors can muster against the Shoreline Conference this year.

Coach McCabe Powers had to make some adjustments on the fly with several of her players opting out of joining the team this fall. While that’s disappointing, Coach McCabe Powers completely understands why anyone would be reticent to play a sport this fall.

“We’ve had personnel leave the mix, so a lot has changed. I have just one senior on the team, and I think I have 10 juniors total. That’s going to be great for next year when I have 10 seniors,” said Coach McCabe Powers. “My goaltender decided not to play, but she said that was coming back next year. Seven kids decided not to play, and I didn’t even ask. I get it. You couldn’t get me on an airplane with a gun to my head right now.”

With the changes, Coach McCabe Powers has named four captains for the season: senior Lauren Wiegman and juniors Abby Amara, Grace Haskins, and Margaret Jacaruso. All of her captains bring some much needed stability during a tumultuous time for the Warriors.

“Lauren’s been great. She’s detail-oriented and a solid attack player. I’m pretty sure she’s playing on the forward line, but we haven’t nailed down positions exactly yet,” Coach McCabe Powers said. “I’m not even quite sure on the system yet, but she’s likely playing center forward.”

With so much still to be determined for Valley, Coach McCabe Powers considers herself lucky that her junior captains will grant the Warriors some flexibility.

“Abby will play right midfield probably, Margaret is right wing, and Grace is left mid, most likely. Having said that, they are all uber-versatile. They can be anywhere that I need them to be,” McCabe Powers said. “They aren’t one-trick ponies. So they can teach defenders and attackers. They are all excellent at breaking down skills. It’s helpful to me so I don’t have to break down the skills for everyone and bring them up to speed individually. Coach Randy Netsch and I have help.”

In the wake of the departure of Valley’s presumed goalie, Coach McCabe Powers has tapped sophomore keeper Fallyn Belisle.

“Fallyn’s the only goalie we have right now,” said McCabe Powers. “It’s not like this hasn’t happened before, but she will be holding down the goal for both JV and varsity.”

One of McCabe Powers’s main concerns is creating a stifling defense to support Belisle during her first season as a varsity goalie.

“Defenders are still my giant question mark. Brooke Levine will be attacking center defense,” said McCabe Powers “Nothing in stone yet. Caroline Haskins—Grace’s twin sister—makes sense at sweeper. Right and left are still up in the air, though. I want the most solid defense around our goalie because she doesn’t really have a lot of varsity experience. You want a nice support team around her.”

As for the midfield, those positions seem a little bit more stable for the Warriors.

“Grace and Abby will be on the outside of the midfield. Emily Kateley and Mia Alio at center midfield. I have a bevvy of people that are possible at left wing,” McCabe Powers said. “Mia is a possibility there, too. Then you have Reagan Fergusen and Clara Shea, a freshman, I’m also looking at there. We haven’t made our final decision yet. Truthfully, I am hoping I can get the midfield so stong, hardly anything gets into the defense.”

On attack outside of Wiegman, Coach McCabe Powers has a pretty solid bench unit that can help mix and match when going up against the versatile teams of the Shoreline Conference.

“There will be some substitutes up there on attack. Lily Grow will be subbing up there. Samatha Bardelli will be a potential attacker, too,” said McCabe Powers. “There are others looking to get some time up there. Not only will we have a stout starting lineup, we will have a stout bench for varsity too.”

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges facing Coach McCabe Powers right now is the limited amount of practice time available due to CIAC guidelines, which expanded by an additional half-hour on Sept. 21.

“The most painful thing right now is only practicing an hour, and 30 minutes of it has to be fitness,” said McCabe Powers. “Then you have stick work, and the hour is gone before you blink. The younger group comes first for an hour and the older group comes second for an hour. We’re blessed to have enough kids to do that.”

As for the schedule and subsequent postseason, the Warriors will only be playing Shoreline Conference opponents this season. Valley has 10 games on the schedule, and with five other Shoreline Conference teams, the Warriors are set to match up with each of them twice.

“It’s my understanding that we are supposed to have a postseason experience for all teams. I imagine they are going to expand our tournament in Shorelines. We’ll probably have an extra tournament game where the No. 1 and No. 2 seed get a bye,” said McCabe Powers. “Our goal will be to be in the top-3 so that we might get a bye. Then the 3rd seed gets the last seed. So that wouldn’t be that bad, mathematically.”

Coach McCabe Powers is excited about this season even though she knows the challenges are great. Whatever field hockey looks like on the other side of the pandemic, the Warriors should be in a good position going forward.

“The eye is on the future with this team, but we can contend. At the end of the season, we’re only graduating one senior,” McCabe Powers said. “This is going to be hard. All games are seeding games, and it will matter for end of year accolades for the players. We only have 10 games, and some other leagues have 12 games. No scrimmages either. It’s crazy. In the last couple of years, the whole level of the league has come up. It will be tight.”