It was a beautiful day for field hockey on Saturday as the JV and Varsity teams traveled to Exeter, NH. Despite the long ride, Deerfield arrived energized. Varsity stepped out on the turf first, bringing home a fantastic win for the Big Green. The JV girls had a lot of positive energy from watching Varsity and after stretching a bit to shake off their bus fog, they put their game faces on and came out aggressive in the first half. Dom Whitney, ’22, played a strong game on attack, carrying the ball down the right side and sending it flying into the circle. On the left, ninth graders Daly Baker and Ainsley Hatch had a smooth passing game going, knocking on Exeter’s circle often, and assisting in DA being awarded 4 offensive corners (Deerfield only gave up 1 on defense!). As center mid, Emma Jaskolski, ’21, had an unbelievable game; always on the ball, disrupting Exeter’s attempts to move onto our half, and making plays happen with her deft stick skills, she was indispensable to the team. The tied 0-0 score was in no small part due to our solid defenders, all of whom played a terrific game. Field Hockey newbie Alissa Zhang, ’21, parlayed her ice hockey experience into aggressive channeling and impressive stick work. Additionally, Kate Kelly, ’21, played a great game at center back, always pressuring the ball and recovering quickly. Despite playing most of the second half on Exeter’s half, DA couldn’t quite get one into the back of the net, resulting in a tied 0-0 game. We look forward to scoring a few against NMH at home next Wednesday!