Quakers to Be Led by Senior Trio for Field Hockey

Horace Greeley is looking to improve upon its 4-8-4 campaign of a year ago and has three senior co-captains that are determined to make that happen.

One of them is midfield-sweeper Jillian Green, whose exact position on the field will depend on the matchups against the opposition. Green is a college prospect and plays on a club team.

“She is a real strong defender,” Greeley coach Sukhwinder (Sukhi) Singh said. “She can control the ball, she has fantastic control of it. She has strong stick work. She can get by one or two players or as many players as she has to and get a good shot on goal.”

Left-midfielder Eve Buseck has really worked hard on her game, playing both in the winter league in Brewster and the summer league in Putnam Valley so that she would become a better player.

“She has great stick work and can also hit the ball very well,” Singh said.

Left-back Vaishali Kumaraguru provides the Quakers with someone who also has solid stick skills and plays great defense.

“The leadership of these three are very important, we want them to have that responsibility,” Singh said. “When one of the players has a problem, they will go to the captains and the captains will then come to me and we will figure it out that way. We are doing it this way because we feel it will help the captains develop into even better leaders and teach them good sportsmanship.”

Singh said that his goal for the team is to stress sportsmanship, leadership and safety. He said that the players goal is to get to the sectionals and win as many games as they can once they get there.

“We are both going to work together so that each of our goals can be achieved,” Singh said.

Besides being concerned about this year, Singh is also concerned about the future of Greeley field hockey and thus, there will be a youth program for those in grade 5 and 6 this fall.

“Having a youth program is essential if you want to have a successful varsity program,” Singh said. “You want the players to have the basics of the game learned when they are young so when they become older and get into high school, they can become really good players.”

Greeley will open the season hosting Valhalla at 4:15 p.m. Sept. 8.