Field hockey loses finals match at Alvernia in OT

The field hockey team’s record has not given an accurate picture of the season.

With a pre-playoff conference record of 7-3, the team entered the tournament with the number five seed. They have had a lot of tough games and several close losses.

“We have just not been putting the ball in the cage,” senior Lisa Bitterlich said.

However, despite all of this, the team feels as if they are probably one of the top skilled teams in the PAC. According to Bitterlich, their trouble scoring has not shown this.

The team took the quarterfinal win over number four seed, Misericordia. In addition to this, the sixth seed, Neumann, upset number three, Wesley.

The team is very young having only two seniors and three juniors. There are a lot of sophomores in the starting line up.

“A young team means working harder at keeping positive (attitudes) because of the close losses,” Coach Camrin Azzarano said.

Coming into the season, numbers were a concern. The team is small which has left very little room for injuries.

Azzarano commented that there is not as much depth on the bench as they would like.

The team will be losing two key seniors, Hope Roush, a captain, and Bitterlich. Due to the small numbers, the team is hoping to bring in more recruits next year.

“The majority of the team will still be there next year,” junior captain Christy Miller said referring to the fact that most of the team will be used to playing together.

According to Miller, one struggle for the team this season has been adjusting to how each team member plays. “We all come from different backgrounds. Now we have grown as a team and you can see that in our play on the field.”

For Bitterlich, the most memorable moment of the season was the quarterfinal win against Misericordia. “We are finally coming together at the end of the season; scoring, winning and showing our coaches what we are made of.”

The team hopes to play for the first time on the new turf field before the PAC tournament.