Despite starting the season off with a loss to Saint Ignatius (SI) last Thursday, Redwood’s girls’ varsity field hockey team bounced back and defeated rival Marin Catholic (MC) 3-0 on Sept. 4th.
From the get-go, Redwood’s offense dominated MC by staying aggressive and keeping the ball for long possessions. After just a few minutes it was clear that the Giants could play to their strengths and dictate the pace of the game.
Redwood’s first goal came midway through the first period when junior Eva Oppenheim split the defense and assisted senior Mathilde Caindec. Oppenheim, who finished with two assists and a goal, largely attributed Redwood’s victory to a strong team-wide offensive performance.
“We had a lot of good shots on goal, and we were able to move the ball vertically down the field. So overall, I’m pretty satisfied with how we played,” Oppenheim said.
Coming into the second period the score was still 1-0. Although the score remained close, Redwood continually dominated throughout. Finally, midway through the second period, Redwood broke through with two goals in ten minutes, the first coming from Oppenheim and the second from senior Erin McCarthy.
Although Redwood defeated Marin Catholic 8-1 to end last year, varsity coach Jen Reidy was satisfied with the 3-0 outcome because it was mainly in part to a great effort from both a dominant offense and lockdown defense.
“Field hockey is like soccer with a stick. So, like soccer, you need everyone to contribute. For the most part, that's exactly what happened today,” Reidy said.
Senior captain and goalie Vanessa Veto believed that the team found success on Tuesday because of their ability to exploit Marin Catholic’s weaknesses.
“We did a good job driving down on their weaker sides and we had a lot of little, quick passes that were essential because it tired out their defense and helped us play a more fluid game,’’ Veto said.
Veto, who has been on the varsity field hockey team since freshman year, has seen the most improvement this season because of the increase of internal competition and off-season training.
“Having an increased number of girls at tryout enhanced the competitiveness of our team as whole because half the girls didn’t get a spot,” Veto said. “Something else huge this year was a lot of girls did clinics and camps before tryouts, which hasn’t happened in the past because field hockey is relatively new to the Bay Area.”
The varsity field hockey plays their next game on Wednesday, Sept. 12th against Drake at home.
Credits:
Max Gilberg