After winning yet another FAA championship, the Greenwich Academy field hockey team plans to pick up right where they left off this year. (John Ferris Robben photo)
With a year’s worth of head coaching experience under her belt and nearly an entire roster of talented athletes returning from a successful campaign last season, it’s no wonder why Jamie Brower is smiling from ear-to-ear when talking about her Greenwich Academy field hockey team.
“It’s different from last year because I see a lot of experience coming back,” Brower said. “This year we have a good chunk of girls returning from last year’s team and I am already seeing a little more confidence in how the show is run. They know what’s expected, they are very quick to take the five new people under their wing and explain how we do things. We are communicating really well and really working as a team.”
Last season could have been quite overwhelming for Brower and the Gators.
Before the season even kicked off, Brower had the task of replacing legendary head coach and GA icon Angela Tammaro, whose resume included 49 years of field hockey coaching, 30 consecutive Fairchester Athletic Association championships dating back to 1984 and five NESPAC titles.
Now throw into the mix a group of talented, but inexperienced field hockey players to the varsity level and it was easy to see why it was a nervous few months at GA.
“We had a very young team and a lot of new people,” Brower said. “It took some time for those new players to figure out how the varsity team works and everything that goes along with that. Last year we had a large pot of people that were new and spent a lot of the beginning figuring out who should go where. It was very new for a lot of people in a lot of different ways.”
However, it was just business as usual for the Gators. Taking it one game at a time, Greenwich Academy advanced to the FAA title game again and upended Rye Country Day School 1-0 to capture FAA title No. 31.
“Last year we took a lot of time to figure out who is going to play where, but this year we know where people are going to play,” Brower said. “It’s not necessarily starters and non-starters, but positionally. What I think is exciting is that we are jumping off at a different level this year. We are jumping off and building on where we ended last season, as compared to starting from scratch. Everybody is feeling a little more comfortable than we were at this point last year.
Helping the team in its quest for the 32nd consecutive FAA title will be senior captains Olivia LeSueur and Kate DeFrino. Both are familiar faces to the program and will lead by example.
“They have been great so far,” Brower said. “They are more on the quiet side, however they call people out when they need to be called out. They are respected by the team and I think they respect their teammates. It’s not a power trip at all.
After winning yet another FAA championship, the Greenwich Academy field hockey team plans to pick up right where they left off this year. (John Ferris Robben photo)
In addition, the duo of LeSueur and DeFrino will have some added help from amount of seniors on the roster, as Tatiana Viola, Alexa Murray and Julian Whitman will add a lot to the program.
“They have a great supporting cast,” Brower said. “Tatiana is the team’s leading scorer from last year and has some great varsity experience. We are counting on Alexa for some good leadership from the backfield. Julian is new to the team and is bringing a lot of positive energy and great team attitude to the team. The captains have a lot support in their classmates and you can’t ask for anything better than that.”
Sophomore Maggie Reville was the backup goalie for GA last season and will be needed to carry the weight with Julia Booth graduating last season.
“Maggie is a great athlete and plays three sports all really well,” Brower said. “She is going to continue to work on her communication out of the backfield and keep playing on her athletic abilities that she already has.”
Although the Gators lost Haley Carmichael last year to graduation, the defense will be solid in front of Reville. Murray will lead the way and play center-backfield and will be flanked by four different defenders that could work in those positions such as sophomore Sophie Viola and juniors Tate Horiwitz, Anna Khoury, Elle Otton.
“They are really fast, smart, speedy and relentless defenders,” Brower said. “We would be fine with any combination at defense. I’m hoping, depending on whatever we are going against, will help us know what kind of system we are going to play. There’s a nice balance on defense. There are some players that are definitely more patient and others that are definitely more aggressive. Being able to find a balance of those abilities will be great for us.”
Although the Gators are still figuring out who will start in the midfield, the talent is certainly there for the team to be successful. DeFrino will definitely be playing in the midfield, while juniors Whitney Balanoff and Lucy Burke will be returning from last year’s team. Two newcomers to the varsity squad will be sophomore Manveer Sandhu and junior Faye Tapaell.
“All of them them can play in the midfield position,” Brower said. “We have a lot of flexibility and that’s going to be a huge strength. It’s such a demanding position because of all the running that there is and all the fitness levels it demands. To have the flexibility to have all those people that can swing in any of those positions will help us.”
The strength of the Gators this season will be at the attack, as nearly its entire starting lineup will be returning from last year’s FAA championship team. Viola and junior Caroline Keller will be looking to play the wings, while LeSueur and sophomore Karina Schulze will be playing inside.
On top of that, Brower brought in junior Erika Kraus, as well as sophomore Caroline Hughes and Whitman will also see a bunch of minutes.
“We have our forward line returning and that’s going to be key for our success,” Brower said. “You can tell that they are more comfortable playing with each other this year than last year. It’s actually really fun to watch. It’s a work in progress still, but it’s really nice to have those four returning players back and already learning how to play off each other.”
Brower said that another strength for the Gators this season will be the team’s speed and quickness to the ball. Despite all the strengths, Brower said there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
“I think our overall positioning is an area that we need to continue to work on,” the head coach said. “Our passing game is another thing that I want to see continue to develop, so we can use our speed and ball movement to work for us.”
With the amount of talent returning, the expectations for the Gators are at its usual fever pitch. However, Brower is thrilled that the team circled back around to the team’s belief last year of taking things one game at a time.
“We had a lot of visuals in the locker room and a lot of reminders around us to keep us focused on the first task at hand and not looking ahead,” Brower said. “You can tell they have a little bit more confidence because a lot of them have been through a season together. They still understand that it guarantees nothing and that we still need to take things one game at a time.”
This season, Greenwich Academy has the opportunity to play on new turf at the GA athletic complex. Both fields had its 12-year-old turf dug up and replaced this summer. The lower field is more of a multi-sport surface, while the upper field is more of a field hockey field.
With the new turf comes a different style of play, as the matted older turf that made the balls fly up and down the field have given away to a plush new turf, where play could be significantly slower.
“It’s an amazing facility,” Brower said. “The school and all the administrators have worked so hard to get it done. It’s really coming together. During preseason we have been working on how do we need to change on this new surface. We are not going to change how we play, but how we need to change our skill to make it work for us. The old turf was fantastic because it was fast, short and quick. But this field is wonderful. It makes you proud to go out there and say that it’s your home field.”
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