With a 8-1 record heading into October, it’s safe to say the East Meadow field hockey team is doing more than alright.
“So far so good,” coach Courtney Castle said. “This year our theme is to elevate. We want to elevate our skills: individual skills, we want to elevate our team skills and just elevate our game altogether as a whole, and the team is really buying into that.”
A lot of this was brought on by the transition from grass to turf fields, speeding up the pace of the game, necessitating for an increase in skill to match, according to Castle.
“Now that we have turf, we have increased speed, more quick and solid passing, a lot of additional stick skills,” she explained. “It’s pretty cool to watch.”
Speaking of cool to watch, on the defensive line there’s returning senior captain Gianna Celano, with her quick but aggressive stick skills, mostly notably in her transition work according to Castle. Rounding out the defensive is also seniors Sarah Gatto and Shauna Gregorio.
“All three of those girls work super well together, they’ve been playing together for a number of years and they just have great communication,” Castle said. “They work in unison and are super strong.”
On the opposite side of the field, the Jets have junior captain Gianna Ventura for offense with 14 goals and 8 assists through nine games, so accolades such as last year’s all-county honorable mention isn’t shocking.
“She plays right wing [on] offense, she has super-fast speed, very agile, she gets the ball down the field, she has a solid drive and strong passes, and great communication on the field,” Castle praised.
Paired with hard-working junior Kayla Lederer and senior Lila Kies, the offense packs a punch and a half.
Lederer currently has four goals and an assist as a center midfielder and Kies has brought in eight goals and four assists through nine games.
Castle highlighted Kies has improved tremendously throughout her years, and that Lederer has a heavy hand in the transition part of the game in her center-midfield role.
On the younger side there’s also sophomore forward Gabriella Shepard, her first year on varsity, who pulls her weight on the team.
“She has powerful drive, she’s been taking most of the free hits when we have the offensive plays,” Castle explained. “She works well with Ventura and she is up-and-coming. She’s going to be great throughout the next couple of years. She’s a great athlete.”
The goalie situation is interesting: the Jets are alternating them senior Mackenzie Goebel and junior Eva Kyriakidis. “[Goebel] is hard working, she’s been on the team for two years and she is quick on her feet,” Castle said.
Beyond the technical side of the sport, and arguably the most important, is the chemistry off the field.
“Even on the first day, as soon as we named the team, they were already planning the breakfast after practice. They went to the diner and had a nice varsity outing to get together and spend quality time off the field, and it helps with the chemistry on the field,” Castle prided. “It stinks when teams don’t get along or if there’s problems; this team doesn’t have problems.”
