On the most spectacular day of the Fall thus far, on our own home turf, Deerfield JV Field Hockey faced off against a tough St. Paul’s squad, scored early, and then held strong across the rest of the game. It was a total team win today, starting with the forwards’ excellent coordination in the first quarter, 9th minute, when right wing Lila Church ‘25 took it down to the right corner for a beautiful cross to the top of the circle to right attack Elizabeth Kelly ‘25 who sent in a shot to allow left wing Lila King ‘24 to deflect into the goal. Textbook! Even more satisfying since we’d been practicing this pattern all week. Increasingly, especially in the second half, St. Paul’s put the pressure on, but our defense held together and never let up. Hats off to goalie Juliet Amadeo ‘24, who saw as much action in the cage as either goalie all season, blocked innumerable shots and kept the defense strong. All the backs played so well today: Jo Cramer ‘24, Lalwani Surpitski ‘26, Olivia Port ‘26, Edie Huffard ‘25, Rose Manning ‘26, and Sophie Petronzio ‘26—while the steadfast midfielders kept us in the game: Charlotte Steffensen ‘25, Linnea Dreslin ‘24, Emily Bruno ‘25 and Avery Zakowich ‘25. Forwards Sophie Simonds ‘26, Melinda Aznar Klein ‘25 and Melody Zhao ‘26 kept up our attack in the second half, while the final, nail-biting quarter saw fantastic play by Juliet Amadeo and the defense holding strong across three successive corners. Such a great win! Well played, everyone. It’s up to NMH on Wednesday.