On a cold, wet, grey fall afternoon the JV field hockey squad lost 0-5 in a tough match-up against Andover. Though missing some key players on both offense and defense, the girls put forth a great effort: down by just two goals at the half, DA fought hard the entire game. And despite the disappointment of our loss (just the second on the season), there were some bright spots: the girls played with real intensity—they never gave up, and they played together. Notable performances from captain Maddie Blake ’17 at right wing and Emily Henderson ’19 in the backfield kept the girls fired up. Raegan Hill ’19 and Katie Whalen ’18 on the forward line kept the ball moving to cage, while Valerie Ma ’17 at left wing fought hard for every possession and kept feeding the ball into the circle. Ashley Manning ’19 and Hunter Keller ’20 played well at the midfield; centerback Anna Scott ’18 brought her usual intensity, and left back Lynnette Jiang ’18 made some great adjustments and played smart. When centerback Anna Scott took a hit from an Andover player, Lily Faucett ’20 stepped in as sweeper with her dependable hustle and great field sense; captain Sabrina Satirhos ’18 then moved up to centerback, where she held the field. Several girls—due to teammates’ momentary injuries—jumped into new positions and did really well: Hanna Deringer ’20 at middie, and captain Jenna Greenbaum at middie, to name two. Goalies Lucy Blake ’19 and Niyafa Boucher ’18 faced a difficult afternoon in the cage—but the loss today was certainly shared by the entire team.