Postseason for girls field hockey begins Oct. 18, and the team hopes to make into the top 16 in the state tournament.

“To accomplish this goal we just need to push ourselves and our teammates outside of our comfort zones and keep working on improving everyday and believing in ourselves,” coach Dawn Callahan said.

With nine players graduating in 2016 and moving up a division, the team has experienced change.

“We just really hope to improve on playing together as a team and communicating with one another. To do this we are practicing game speed and practicing our strong push pass or hit,” varsity player and sophomore Jessica Wolf said. “We are also working on boosting each other’s confidence by complimenting and encouraging one another when they are playing well.”

Fourteen freshmen joined the team, not enough to form a freshman team, which meant that all freshmen were placed on the JV team.

“JV came together as a group of girls who had never played before and most of us are freshmen, so it’s kinda been really difficult for us because the other JV teams we are playing have juniors and sophomores who just have more experience,” freshman Carly Anderson said. “We’ve lost the majority of our games, but we have tied and won a couple. It has definitely been a learning experience for all of us and we have learned a lot about the sport.”

The team focused on bonding so that they can play better together as a team.

“We did a team building ropes-type course that focused on teamwork, communication and trusting one another,” varsity captain Ally Wagner said. “Also, we have had our annual pasta dinner night to bond and raised money for the team and we also had a team sleepover where we did a fun scavenger hunt.”

Wagner aspires to encourage every player on the team so that they are able to play to their full potential.

“My goal is to continue to lead the team as a captain and really work on motivating every player to work as hard as they can, whether it’s with running back on mid-field to help defense, the forwards working on positioning or defense taking the ball out wide,” Wagner said. “I and the team will work towards these goals by going hard at practice, communicating with each other effectively and having confidence with everything we do.”