Women’s field hockey ready to carry on legacy

By Nathan Curtis,

HUB Staff Writer–

Not many sports squads at Davis High School have as much of a name to live up to as the women’s varsity field hockey team. Last year it went undefeated, tallying an unbelievable total of 133 goals. At yesterday’s season opener, the team proved that it was ready to carry on the legacy and accomplish some fantastic feats of its own.

The defending champs defeated River Valley 2-0. Team captain Kelly Ragsdale credited their win to the team’s pristine passing and top-of-the-notch teamwork. “We did a really great job possessing the ball, and were good at taking the ball outside,” Ragsdale said.  The Davis domination of the field was present through the entirety of the game.

Davis’s first strike came ten minutes into the game thanks to a powerful and professional shot from team captain Natalie Silver. After Silver’s goal, the rest of the game passed relatively quietly until defender Elizabeth Leshuk found the upper left hand corner of the goal off of a short corner. Unfortunately, the referees deemed Leshuk’s shot too high off the ground, and it was revoked.

Jade Bugsch scored one last goal with five minutes remaining amidst a humble-jumble of players fighting for the ball in front of River Valley’s goal.

The women had many opportunities throughout the game, but only the two goals by Silver and Bugsch were counted. Ragsdale, Bugsch, Olivia Haas, Sara Pinto, and Whitney Sacramento each had other great drives that just barely missed the goal. Finishing was the girls’ only problem throughout the game.

“We just need to finish,” head coach Sandie Marotti-Huckins said. “Tonight we put on an exhibition of passing, but we just need to finish.”

Even though passing doesn’t get you points, the passing displayed tonight is what makes this year’s team different from last year’s. “We had lots of star power last year, but this year we’re much more unified and work together much better as a team,” Ragsdale said.

After today, the team showed that they’re ready to take on the competition even though the city has such high expectations. “We’ve gotten better every day out here. We just need to keep practicing hard and we’ll keep getting better,” said Marotti-Huckins.