Get ready to pack the stands this fall and cheer for St. Dominic’s newest sport, field hockey. It generated a lot of buzz from the start, but unfortunately not many people understand how it’s played.

Most of the team had never played field hockey before this summer. It was really up to Coach Kris Johnson to pull together this team of newbies. Coach Johnson played field hockey in college for Assumption College and brought some much needed experience for the game.

“My goal for the girls is to learn as much as possible about the game offensively and defensively… I would like to see us score goals and be an offensive threat… [which] builds confidence,” said Coach Johnson.

Now for the rules: there are eleven players per team competing on a grass field. There are two goal cages, and you can score by hitting the ball into the goal from a striking circle in front of the goal cage.

“We can’t touch other people’s sticks and the ball can’t touch any part of your body… you always have to wear a mouth guard and goggles with shin guards,” said senior Emily DeLassus.

The field hockey team put in a lot of work over the summer to prepare. The hard work payed off when they made SDHS history, winning St. Dominic’s first field hockey game ever! They beat Clayton 3-0 on August 28 and Rosati Kain 4-0 on August 29, starting off the season right. Last night, they tied Oakville 1-1 in an intense match.

“Corners are probably our biggest strength that we’ve grown. A corner is when the defense has a penalty in the [striking] circle… Basically it is a free shot on goal with four defensive players against ten offensive players,” said Coach Johnson.

Field hockey is setting out to do great things this year. They only have two home games on September 8, and October 6, so come be part of the action. St. Dominic wishes this talented team good luck on what is sure to be a phenomenal first season!