By Cecilia Nguyen, Staff Writer
Last week, Fountain Valley’s varsity girls field hockey team ended their preseason with a victory over Louisville.
Leading Louisville 2-0 in the first half, forward Elyse Toal (’16) weaved through Louisville’s defense and hit the ball straight into the goal for their third point.
Over the summer, the team had been practicing and improving by going back to the fundamentals and developing team chemistry, which resulted in better communication skills.
“I think our season has started off better than in the last few years. We have been doing really good in preseason. I think we have strong players on the team this year, and everyone works well together,” said senior captains Toal, Jacelyn Michael (’16) and Cora Barras (’16).
At the beginning of the match, the players were excited for their final preseason game. However, as the first half began, the team was playing slow, which prompted Coach Allison Renth to advise them to pick up the pace. Still not happy with their efforts, Renth called a timeout shortly after. When the momentum began to favor the Barons, they managed to score their first goal.
As the game continued on, their connection was obvious, proceeding in four more goals made by the Lady Barons. This was an advantage for Fountain Valley’s team because Louisville lacked team communication skills.
Because of their substantial lead of 5-0, players could play new positions. Defense played forward, and short corners made it so new people were able to score goals.
“It went really well. It was a fun game so we got to move some girls around,” said Renth.
