The field hockey team kicked off its season with three games in August–a loss to both St. Ignatius and Glenbard West, and then a resounding 7-1 win against Lakes Community. 

As a newly inaugurated varsity sport, the field hockey program boasts 44 athletes across two teams. With only three seniors at the varsity level, the teams are focusing on mastering the game and improving communication.

“We only had five or six [athletes] returning to varsity,” says interim head coach Anne Lesch. “We are really young in terms of our playing experience at the varsity level. I think that is going to be an adjustment for the girls. Come our first game we really [got] tested to see if we could do this at this next level.”

“We’ll probably be working a lot on communicating, because we’re great at communicating off the field, but sometimes on the field it’s a little hard to get into the mode,” says varsity junior Susanna Wright.

Matches to look forward to include an away game at New Trier on Sept. 20, some of the top competition in the state, as well as a home game against Loyola on Oct. 3, to whom the team narrowly lost to last fall.

The team’s varsity status was granted by athletic director Chris Livatino after an outstanding performance last season–the team made it to the elite eight round of the state tournament.

“We’re really excited that the school is recognizing us like that and supporting us,” says Coach Lesch.

Coach Lesch enters the program with experience as a parent and spectator of ETHS field hockey and is looking forward to continuing the traditions and momentum the team had from last year in the absence of an official head coach 

As a no-cut sport, field hockey welcomes new athletes to come and try it out. No experience is necessary.

“Field hockey is a great sport to pick up later in your athletic career,” says Coach Lesch. “So if you’ve played sports before and are looking for a new one, I would encourage you to come try field hockey. We have a program here in Evanston called Rise and they practice at [Quad Indoor Sports]. We’re definitely always looking to grow the program, grow the sport, we could even add more teams. It’s for anyone who’s interested.”