The field hockey team doubled their number of wins this year over last year’s season, finishing this season 6-12 and getting a berth in the Conference tournament.

Last year’s team dealt with fielding only 22 players, not enough to have both a varsity and jv team. The tide shifted this year, with more than enough girls to fill two teams.

Along with more players, the team also increased the season’s total number of goals more than twofold, with major wins against new Jefferson District competition Powhatan.

Junior Scarlet Foley led the Patriots with __ goals over the course of the season.

The team dominated in both of the games played against Louisa County with the Lady Patriots’ total of 10 goals compared to Louisa County’s 0.

Crosstown rival WAHS brought the heat in the first game against the team, winning 0-1. Yet the Lady Pats battled back on Oct. 15 with senior Abi Johnson’s game-winning goal.

“There were lots of underdog games that we won,” senior captain midfielder Sarah Vrhovac said.

Teammates would agree that many of the accomplishments made this year could be credited to some of the group’s team building, which effectively drew them together.

“We had much better connections with each other this year,” Vrhovac said. Throughout the season, the team often held group sleepovers and dinners to help improve the strength of relationships amongst team members.

Despite whichever achievements, there were some definite downsides to this year’s season.

“It’s hard to get back up after a few losses,” Vrhovac said.

The team suffered defeats against perennial powerhouses St. Catherine’s and Collegiate, but still managed to walk into post-season Conference play. After beating Patrick Henry in the first round, they fell to former District rivals Orange in the second.

“We scrimmaged a lot of really hard teams pre-season and it paid off towards the end for the whole season,” junior forward Bailey Bush said.