Sports
Raiders Field Hockey Rebuild Showing Promise
Wellesley back to square one after running the table in the regular season last year.
It may not feel quite like fall yet, but the fall sports season is upon us. This changing of the season also means a big change for the Wellesley Raiders girls' field hockey team.
"We lost a ton of seniors and returning players," says senior captain Julia Flanigan.
Flanigan and senior captain Adrienne O'Donnell are the only two returning players from last year's team that went undefeated in the regular season but lost in the second round of the tournament.
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Naturally, this year's team has its work cut out for them if they want to get back to the postseason.
"This group is definitely younger and less experienced but a lot of the players are experienced in other sports so they have a good mentality," said O'Donnell.
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"Putting the expectation [of winning the tournament] on this team would not be fair," said head coach Chris Molonea.
The amount of young players on the team has made Molonea change her approach to coaching this team.
"We, as coaches, are backing it up so to speak. Our starting point is so much farther back than it was with the team last fall. There's so much more to cover before we can move farther forward," says Molonea.
The amount of graduating seniors from last year's team left nine open starting spots this season, which should provide plenty of incentive for the younger players to step up and earn their spot on the team.
"Right now I'm pretty much at ground zero of putting the team back together and literally trying to find the right piece for the right spot," says Molonea.
It's not all negative though.
"I really like the work ethic of the young players. Senior leadership's been good and the captains have been great," says Molonea.
The team is showing progress after defeating Dover-Sherborn High School 2-0 in a scrimmage on Monday.
"I thought we developed attack well, and we scored two goals today. Developing attack through the midfield is pretty good and probably what we're doing the best right now," says Molonea.
Despite the shutout, Molonea says her team's defense is still what needs the most work.
"Our transition defense, from the [50 yard line] on back is not very put together right now," says Molonea.
The Raiders have one more scrimmage at Waltham High School on Wednesday before their regular season begins next Tuesday, Sept. 7.
