Photo by Bob Roche
Juniors Michaela Freddo (left) and Sydney Faulkner (right) are co-captains of the Swampscott field hockey team this season.
By Scot Cooper
SWAMPSCOTT — As Big Blue field hockey coach Jamie Spano enters her third season on the sidelines for the field hockey team, she has a pair of talented juniors to lead the team into the 2016 season. What Spano doesn’t have is seniors; the Blue are loaded with all underclassmen, including junior co-captains Sydney Faulkner and Michaela Freddo.
Freddo and Faulkner have been contributing since their freshman season, and Freddo said the game has changed now that she and Faulkner are the captains, and having no seniors will not be a problem.
“We kind of knew that our role would be different this year as opposed to last year,” Freddo said. “We’re the older players now, with the most experience and we have to get this team back into the playoffs.”
In Spano’s first season, the Blue qualified for the state tournament, but were booted right away by Wayland, 3-1, in the opening round of Division 2 North playoffs.
The Blue needed to win three out of their final four games in 2015 to get into the playoffs, but that didn’t happen. Faulkner said that the returning players have been using the disappointment of last year to get revved up for this season.
“We’ve been working incredibly hard in practice and going to field hockey camps over the summer. This team definitely wants to get back to the playoffs this year,” Faulkner said. “We beat Lynnfield, Haverhill and Medfield in the pre-season, 3-for-3, so hopefully we can keep it going against Fenwick.”
Faulkner replaces her cousin MacKenzie Faulkner, who was a co-captain last season. The Big Blue will kick off the season Wednesday, September 7, on the road against Bishop Fenwick. Freddo said the team is hoping for a big night against an old rival.
“We’ve been going at it pretty good against Bishop Fenwick since I’ve been playing here, and we want to begin the season with a win,” Freddo said. “We’ve been working really hard all summer. Our passing looks great, we just need to attack and score goals.”
Sophomore Jillian Flanders will be the goalie for Swampscott, and Freddo said she knows that Flanders will pick up just fine for Katie Papele, who played every minute of every game in net for the Blue last fall.
“She (Flanders) has been great for us. Katie was an excellent goalie for us last year, and now Jillian will do the job for us this year,” Freddo said. “We’re a very young team age-wise, but we have a lot of experience. Most of us on the team have been playing together since we were in seventh grade.”
In addition to Freddo and Faulkner in the middle, sophomore Sydney Cresta is expected to contribute on offense for Swampscott.
Spano said it’s good to have the skill, experience and the leadership she gets from her co-captains.
“We’ve moved past last year, and I know Michaela and Sydney are going to a great job for this team this season,” the coach said.
