St. Luke's Field Hockey: Season Preview

The St. Luke’s Varsity Field Hockey team is looking forward to the 2017 season with a new-look schedule and a new-look coaching staff.

Head Coach Brinley Ehlers returns with assistant coach Chris Phelps but the Storm added two new faces to the coaching roster with the appointments of Alyssa Havens ‘07 and Leon Kerr, both on a part-time basis.

Havens played four years for St. Luke’s before representing Hendrick’s College as a Varsity player. She joins the SLS coaching staff after four years as a coach at New Canaan High School. In her final year as NCH head coach, Havens won a state Championship with the Rams.

Kerr brings a wealth of playing and coaching experience as a former Jamaican National team player and coach at Wilton High School and HTC Field Hockey Club.

Ehlers is excited to see what Havens and Kerr can bring to the program: “They have both been great additions to the coaching staff. I feel like we have a lot of expertise and lots of energy and new ideas.”

The 2017 squad is captained by seniors Sophia Feldman, Sophia DellaRusso and Hannah Haden who are entering their fourth season with the program. Ehlers believes the trio will do a great job leading the group: “They have all done a fabulous job in preseason and have been natural leaders. They are all friends off the field, so they have a real camaraderie and rapport with the coaches and players.”

Ehlers believes this year’s preseason went well and sees huge potential in her squad: “Preseason was great. We had a lot of fun but did a lot of conditioning work with Dave Havens. We had a scrimmage and a play day as well as mixing in some good team-bonding exercises like our mini-golf day and a trip to watch Fairfield University. We have a deep squad. Kendall Boege (‘19) will be playing center midfield and has incredible vision, is an excellent ball player and her stick skills are great. Abby O’Meara (‘20) is a very skilled player and Mia Mitchell (‘20) has been excellent. Kirsten Pastore (‘19) has been very strong on defence, and so has Katherine Pellegrino (‘19). I am also looking for Emma Cropper (‘19) to have a huge season in our goal.”

The Storm also added a number of freshman players who came through the Middle School program. The future continues to look bright for St. Luke’s Field Hockey. As Ehlers said, “ We have been on an upward trajectory the last two years so I am hopeful that will continue. I am really looking for the girls to jell as a team and I have definitely noticed that already.”

The Storm kicked off their season with an excellent performance against FAA rivals Holy Child on Wednesday, September 6 resulting in a 1-1 tie. St. Luke’s led through a Kendall Boege goal but were pegged back midway through the second half. Despite a number of good opportunities in the 7v7 overtime the Storm had to settle for a share of the spoils.

St. Luke’s were held to another 1-1 tie against The King School on Friday, September 8.