Six months, four graduated seniors,
and one preseason later… We are now
closing in on the last few games in our very first season of Atlantic 10 field
hockey. Forgive my cheesiness, but who knows where the time goes. My name is
Lucy Pidcock, and as a junior on the team I’ve
inherited Frenchie’s role as the DCFH blogger.
After a few months of summer internships and – most importantly – summer workout packets, DCFH reunited in August, armed with eight new teammates and two new assistant coaches Catherine Ostoich and Kristen O’Rourke (who am I kidding, we all call her KO – who is this so called Kristen lady?), excited to take the A10 by storm. Despite many hot hours on the turf and freezing minutes (feels like hours) in the ice bath, I gotta say that preseason may still be one of my favorite times of year. Who doesn’t love all-you-can-eat Commons, team bonding, and catching some rays (aka sunburn in the shape of pinnies, shorts, and shin guards)? And not only were we back on the field with all of our DCFH family, we were back on a new field! Yes, the first few practices may have required that we try to avoid hitting the construction workers with stray sweeps and drives, but by the middle of preseason we had the best lookin’ turf around - soon complemented by a sick set of speakers. Believe it or not, we (and the rest of North Carolina) can now hear our warm up mix before games!
If I were to boil our season down to a number of wins and losses, I’d be leaving out huge parts of the DCFH story. When I mentioned the newest members of the DCFH family, I think I forgot someone pretty important. In addition to the veteran fans who show up at every game equipped with red sweaters, Davidson flags, and endless bowls of pimento cheese, we are now cheered on by one of our youngest Wildcat fans, baby Parks Turner. Not that he really has much say in the matter, but Parks has proven a dedicated fan thus far, traveling to Farmville, Virginia to watch the ‘Cats take on Longwood University. That being said, I am pretty happy to say that we spent just one weekend in Virginia this season (not five in a row…flashback to the NorPac era). Instead, we spent the last two months jet setting across the United States, playing games in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Missouri, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Not to mention our first A10 win against St. Louis University in Missouri! ‘Twas a great day to be a wildcat.
After a few months of summer internships and – most importantly – summer workout packets, DCFH reunited in August, armed with eight new teammates and two new assistant coaches Catherine Ostoich and Kristen O’Rourke (who am I kidding, we all call her KO – who is this so called Kristen lady?), excited to take the A10 by storm. Despite many hot hours on the turf and freezing minutes (feels like hours) in the ice bath, I gotta say that preseason may still be one of my favorite times of year. Who doesn’t love all-you-can-eat Commons, team bonding, and catching some rays (aka sunburn in the shape of pinnies, shorts, and shin guards)? And not only were we back on the field with all of our DCFH family, we were back on a new field! Yes, the first few practices may have required that we try to avoid hitting the construction workers with stray sweeps and drives, but by the middle of preseason we had the best lookin’ turf around - soon complemented by a sick set of speakers. Believe it or not, we (and the rest of North Carolina) can now hear our warm up mix before games!
If I were to boil our season down to a number of wins and losses, I’d be leaving out huge parts of the DCFH story. When I mentioned the newest members of the DCFH family, I think I forgot someone pretty important. In addition to the veteran fans who show up at every game equipped with red sweaters, Davidson flags, and endless bowls of pimento cheese, we are now cheered on by one of our youngest Wildcat fans, baby Parks Turner. Not that he really has much say in the matter, but Parks has proven a dedicated fan thus far, traveling to Farmville, Virginia to watch the ‘Cats take on Longwood University. That being said, I am pretty happy to say that we spent just one weekend in Virginia this season (not five in a row…flashback to the NorPac era). Instead, we spent the last two months jet setting across the United States, playing games in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Missouri, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Not to mention our first A10 win against St. Louis University in Missouri! ‘Twas a great day to be a wildcat.
Being on the road isn’t always easy, but it does mean both
the chance to see DCFH alums and family members, as well as the opportunity of
a lifetime: the chance to eat copious amounts of ice cream at the Ben &
Jerry’s headquarters.
We unfortunately didn’t get to meet Ben or Jerry, but they
definitely have a good thing going up there in Vermont. And hey, my ice cream
had strawberries in it, so that’s basically just fruit and dairy (calcium
builds strong bones), right? Nothin’ but a healthy snack.
As for life on campus, DCFH recently held our third annual
Stick it to Cancer game, where we sold t-shirts to raise money for Breast
Cancer Awareness Month. We may or may not also have worn pink bows in our hair,
and that may or may not have been my favorite part of the event... don’t tell
Ginny. In addition to celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness with our teammates,
families, and fans – shout out to the soccer, lacrosse, and baseball teams for
all the support! – we also celebrated freshman Morgan French’s ROTC contracting
ceremony in which she officially became a member of the United States Army.
I have to admit I didn’t really understand what was going
on, but I know we are all proud of this young ‘Cat nonetheless!
A few practices, lifts, and games later, we are now closing
in on the end of another season, all of us left wondering where the time went
and how we could possibly get it back. Three games left, it is time, now more
than ever, to fight tooth and claw. While it is in our nature as athletes to spend
innumerable hours replaying games and practices in our heads, asking ourselves
why we didn’t just pull right when Ginny told us to, it is also in our nature
to carry on, to learn, to laugh, and to grow.
Consider this an invitation to Senior Day this Friday, where
we will celebrate seniors Madeline Herder, Kaity Anstrom, and Kristy Helscel and
all the ways they’ve contributed to this program throughout the last four
years. As Frenchie would say/this is my first blog post and I’m not really sure
how to end it … I wish every reader out there a safe Halloween. May your
costumes be scary and your stomachs full of candy!!!!
Yours truly,
Lucy
