As their regular season comes to an end, the PA girls field hockey team prepares to compete in regionals this week. The team begins with the quarterfinal on Wednesday against Tallwood. With a victory, they will advance to play in the semifinal game against Cox High School on Friday, a long-awaited rematch after Cox defeated the Cavaliers in the semi-finals last year.
PA heads into regionals with a season record of 11-4, with several notable wins, like their 4-3 defeat of Kellam. Kellam took an early lead in the first quarter of the Oct. 10 game, but senior captain Sydney Raguini and sophomore Reese Klute combined to score a total of four goals in the second quarter, securing the win.
“The Kellam game was insane,” explained Raguini. “I didn’t think we were going to win that one.”
Another hard-fought win this season was against Catholic High School in a sudden death overtime. The Cavaliers defeated the Crusaders 5-4, a huge win after the 2-1 loss the previous season.
Throughout the season, third-year coach Don Warner says he is focused on “building on the success of last year.” The team went 12-4 last season, making it to the semifinals before losing to Cox.
As captain this year, Raguini noted she is improving her individual skills while also working on her leadership skills. “My main focus was to learn how to be a good leader, teammate, and coach to help my team put their best foot forward,” she said.
Along with Raguini, seniors Claire Holmes and Maura Graves are senior captains this year. According to Klute, there were a lot of freshmen who tried out, and the captains were “very active leaders who helped out all the underclassmen.”
Warner described the improvement he sees within his team. “We’ve got, relatively speaking, a smaller team so the game experience, the ball speed, the fact that we’ve played on three or four different surfaces, have all challenged the players, and we’ve all grown from it.”
Klute agreed, adding, “Our coach focused a lot on individual development that would help the team. Focusing on our individual skills helps us to help our team.”
Raguini explains Cox and First Colonial High School are going to be the biggest challengers as the team prepares for regionals. “They’re the ones with more club players and really good coaches and consistent programs,” she said.
The team has played both Cox and FC before, so the team says they know how they play and what needs to be done beforehand to prepare. “We just need to be intense at practice, lots of communication and talking between the team,” Klute said.
As the regional quarterfinal approaches, Warner says his team just needs to “relax and play the game we know we can play.”
The Cavs’ quarterfinal game against Tallwood is at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at the Regional Training Center.
