With one win, eight losses, and one tie during the 2018-2019 season, the Girls JV Hockey team is looking to bounce back this year. After solid seasons the two seasons before, the team hopes to repeat its previous success.
The team, coached by first-year Head Coach Eric Stone, has multiple goals this upcoming season. He said, “Our priority is to put ourselves in the best position to win. To do that, we have to work hard in practice. We [also] have to put our eyes on the main goal, which is to have fun and realize that, to have fun, [we] have to put in a lot of work in to put [ourselves] in the best position to have success on the ice.”
The Girls JV Hockey team is relatively inexperienced, with 13 underclass students out of a roster of 20. Additionally, some players have never skated before. However, they are led by four experienced Senior co-captains – Annabel Evison ’20, Julia Willett ’20, Serena Zhou ’20, and Isabella Giordano ’20.
The co-captains emphasized their commitment to the improvement of the underclass students that they have seen. Evison said, “One of our goals is to improve team spirit and camaraderie, especially with a lot of new players on the team. Also, we want to win more games, because last season did not go as planned [in the win-loss column].”
Returning players are working to mentor students who are new to the team. Evison said, “We have this program called bigs and littles, where returners are bigs and new players are littles. [Littles] have lunch with their big[s] before a game, and the big[s] buy [the littles] small presents throughout the season, which allows upper and lowerclass students to become more friendly.”
New players are optimistic about the team’s future. Lucy Jervis ’23, new this year to both the school and the JV Girls Hockey team, said, “[Although I came] into JV Hockey not knowing many people on the team, the coaches and captains made [the] new players’ transition stress free. From team dinners to playing pump-up music in the locker room, my captains have definitely made my time on this team enjoyable.”
The Girls JV Hockey team looks to build on this positive attitude in future games. They face Westminster at home on Saturday, January 25.