The girls faced their most physical opponents in an away game against Loomis on Saturday. After the usual 5 to 10 minutes of play, they shook off the inevitable and debilitating “bus legs,” turned on the energy and coherence, and then scored the first goal of the game on a beautiful corner: Sydney Gregg ’20 sent the ball into the air, sailing past the goalie. But Loomis managed to come back and tie up the game in the midst of our own defensive scramble: one of our backs came off the field (due to momentary injury), while Loomis capitalized on that brief but confused transition and scored on a corner. We went ahead again, again on a corner, and again with a lovely airborne goal from Sydney. Loomis then tied up the game—though in the last few minutes of the second half, we were knocking on the door. Despite some seriously physical play, the girls held their own, fought hard, fought together, and ultimately felt proud of their effort—as did the coaches. Notable post-game shout-outs went to: right wing Jada Howard ’19 who made an effective adjustment coming down the right side, on multiple occasions successfully dodging defenders and passing to her inner; left wing Lucy Blake ’19 who demonstrated some skilled stickwork in evading the tackle; our three super helpful and effective Thirds players—Anne Brown ’21, Mary Blake Zeron ’21, and Saadhya Bahudodda ’20—who joined the team for the day’s contest; and forward Dom Whitney ‘19 for her strength of spirit in the face of the brunt of Loomis’s aggression. Special shout-out to captain and goalie Niyafa Boucher ‘18, last line of defense. Tough fight, great game, galvanizing experience for the team.