The Cabrini women’s field hockey team is looking to change the course of its season as it enters Atlantic East Conference play this month.
The Cavaliers have struggled early on, posting a record of 1-9 to in the team’s first 10 contests. Despite this tough start to the year, the team does have some positives to take into the latter portion of season as conference play begins.
A strong schedule is something that the coaching staff, led by long-tenured head coach Jackie Neary, prides itself on, and this season is no different. The Cavs always schedule tough opponents early on in the season. Of the team’s first nine losses, three came against teams that rank in the top four in the nation.
“My hope as a coach – and it has panned out for me in previous years – is that we have that initial struggle and it makes us better players because we’re facing all-Americans and teams that have played in the national championship,” Neary said. “If we can take that into October and into our conference games, it’ll make us a better team.”
The team is relatively young, but is starting to gain experience. Two years ago, a successful senior core of 14 graduated from Cabrini. This has left younger players to lead the team and now they are starting to understand what it takes to compete. The Cavaliers also have a solid freshman class that has shown some promise to this point.
Coach Neary’s biggest takeaway from early in the season is the resiliency the team has shown despite a slow start. She cites the team’s strong suit as its ability to keep working hard and never giving up. Neary says they will continue to work and hope they will be rewarded with some more success in conference play.
“The really good things in life, you have to work hard for. I’m really trying to instill the lesson of what’s happening on the field right now to something that maybe they will take into life later,” Neary said.
The Lady Cavs opened up AEC play with a thrilling 2-1 overtime win at Immaculata. They followed that up with a 2-1 loss to Neumann in a game where they posted a season-high in shots.
