One of South High’s winningest teams is the field hockey team. Last season the Patriots went 15-7 overall. This year the team hopes to improve on that record.

The girl’s performance last year prompted the team to a Division One level team. This new division includes  Lafayette, Marquette, Ladue, Kirkwood, and MICDS. The new division means a new level of play.

The team also has a new coach for this year. Victoria Lavell, a P.E. assistant, will head the team this year. Lavell brings a new, more intense coaching style to the team.

“It’s good. She is really into conditioning. We do a lot of running. A lot. We also did a couple crossfit workouts too,” said senior varsity midfielder Grace Sivcovich.

The girls also have to adapt to different expectations from last years coach. This is their third coach in three years. The girls also face the challenge of proving themselves again.

“We have to prove ourselves to another coach. That is always hard,” said Morrisey.

This year Sophomore Emily Mclaughlin is expected to be a difference maker after having moved up to the varsity level.

The team will have to make up for the loss of graduated seniors Lauren Maurutto and Sarah Stock on defense. Senior Abby Baerveldt will anchor this year’s defense in the field.

Goaltending will be taken care of by senior Shannon Morrisey and junior Grace Steck. Both are very confident in the goal. Last year Morrisey had 12 wins and 8 shutouts playing a total of 931 minutes, and racking up 90 saves. Steck played 289 minutes and secured 2 wins. At the time of writing Morrisey already has 36 saves after 7 games this season.

“I tend the goal for two reasons; I don’t have to run as much and the attractive padding,” said Morrisey. She also talked about having a new defense, “It makes the job harder initially but I can see we are coming together,” said Morrisey.

Field Hockey is no easy sport. It requires strong endurance and also a high pain tolerance says Sivcovich.

According to Sivcovich to play Field Hockey, “You can’t play the team, you have to play the game,” said Sivcovich.

This year the team intends on playing the game. Despite starting 0-2 against Eureka and MICDS they remain optimistic, “We really want to do our best, moving up a division is going to be tough,” said Sivcovich.

So far this season the team is 0-8-2 with losses to Eureka, MICDS, Lafayette, and Kirkwood. The Patriots tied Summit and Antioch. Goals have been scored by Emily McLaughlin (1) and Lorna Schoemehl (2) with assists by Liv Salzman  and Claire Sharp.

The team will play at Marquette on October 11 and at Lutheran South on October 13. Neither of these games will be easy and should be very exciting as the team grows and gets comfortable in the tougher division of play. They will finish up the regular season at home against Ursuline Academy, a powerhouse in local field hockey.