ATTLEBORO — The St. Mary’s field hockey team achieved the first in what it hopes to be a long list of milestones Thursday, taking the field for the first time as a varsity program on the road at Bishop Feehan. Despite dropping the season opener by a score of 8-2 at McGrath Stadium, Spartans coach Victoria Ault was happy to get the first game out of the way.
“It was a very exciting day for everyone involved in the program, but the real work starts now,” said Ault. “We came out pretty flat to open the game and got off to a slow start that we never really came back from. We had plenty of scoring opportunities, but we just had trouble putting balls in the net.”
One of the biggest adjustments for the Spartans and all field hockey teams this fall is getting used to all of the new rules, including switching to a 7-on-7 field of play as opposed to the normal 11-on-11.
“It’s tough out there and conditioning is certainly a factor,” said Ault. “The girls have been working hard and they’re in great shape, but they also have to learn how to fight through adversity. After Feehan scored the first goal it seemed like some of our girls hung their heads, and we can’t be doing that.”
Despite the disparity in the score, St. Mary’s goalkeepers Ann Romelus and Achan Wol played well in the loss. Yirsy Queliz will forever be remembered as being the first Spartan to score a goal for the field hockey program, while Maggie Pierce added a goal as well.
The Spartans fell behind early to Feehan but still only trailed 2-0 at halftime. But after three goals in the third quarter, Feehan was able to pull away and never look back. Queliz scored her goal, the first ever for St. Mary’s field hockey, with 11:09 remaining in the game. Pierce scored her goal in the final minute of play.
The Spartans return to action next Saturday, Oct. 10 with a morning road game against Bishop Stang at 11 a.m. With more than a week until the next game, Ault is looking forward to hitting the ground running in practice.
“I told the girls after the game that it’s okay to be upset with the loss, but we can’t hang our heads after this,” said Ault. “The girls are hard workers and they’re dedicated to getting better, so now it’s time to put the work in. We’ve seen game action now, so it’s time to take what we’ve seen so far and start working on those things in practice so we can be better prepared for our next game.”
