Field Hockey 2014 highlights

Field Hockey and Soccer have ended for this Fall season.  To be honest I am going through a little withdrawal.  Field Hockey officially ended last night with the awards banquet.  It was a very  nice evening with great food, great people, great group of girls, a wonderful slide show and the best part of all Emily won a coaches award!!  The season started off a little rough for her with the disappointment of not making the Varsity team (where all her friends were).  She had some tears and a lot of frustration after the first couple games.  But as time went on she realized that she had a great coach and a great group of JV girls that looked up to her.  She was one of three captains on the team and took her leadership seriously.  She played about 95% of every game.  (If she had been on Varsity she would not have played nearly as much.)  Because she played so much and her coach is amazing, Emily improved so much this season as a field hockey player.  She has decided to tryout for the Granite State Elite team this  Sunday.  This will run through the Winter I believe and will look great on her college applications and give her more time improving her game.  Oh and it is played indoor.  Remember....we live in NH!  So wish her luck on Sunday at the tryouts!!

The bonus of last night next to Emily winning her award was the slide show.  I was asked to take pictures of the JV players and any other pictures I could get of Varsity.  So most of the pictures on the slide show were pictures I took.  It was pretty exciting for me to see my pictures on a big screen with all those people looking at them.  A fun evening!!

So I have picked some of my favorite pictures to highlight Emily's 2014 Field Hockey season.........

Emily started her season in July with conditioning three mornings a week with the team.  Then at the end of July she went to a field hockey camp called World Camp in MA.  She had a great time and was with many of  her friends from the team.

This picture was taken at the end of World Camp when we picked her up.  This is her friend, Lacey.  Don't they look exhausted??

Their first game was on her birthday in Nashua.

Her friend, Jeff, came to the game with her number painted on himself. 

I took this picture at the last regular season game which was the senior game.  The girls  made a tunnel for the seniors to run through.

This picture is Emily warming up with Varsity for the first playoff game.

At the end of the regular season, Emily was asked to join the Varsity team for playoffs.  She was so thrilled to be asked and to be able to practice and be with all her friends.  I might add there were 11 seniors on the varsity team and most of them are good friends of Emily.  So she didn't care if she got to play or not in the playoff games.  She was just happy to be on the same side as her friends to cheer them on!  That first playoff game was cold, windy and rainy.  An exciting game that ended in a win for Merrimack.

Next came the quarterfinal game.  Here is Emily warming up before the game. A beautiful Fall day in NH but a bittersweet end to the game.  The girls played their hearts out but came up short and lost the game.

Emily and Lacey during warm ups.

Traditionally, at the end of a game the girls run over to the parents/fans side of the field holding hands.  After the Quarterfinal game the parents held hands and ran over to the team.  The girls applauded the parents and there is Jeff with the Merrimack flag.  This game was not in Merrimack but a great group showed up to support them.  Jeff, I think, is their number 1 fan!!

There were lots of tears.  Here is Emily and Shannon hugging each other after the game.  I think the girls were more sad that they would not be playing together anymore then the fact that they lost the game.

Such a great group of girls!!

On to the banquet.......I have to say these girls clean up well!!!

Here is the JV team up on stage with their coach.

Emily receiving her coaches award.

Here is Emily with her amazing coach!!!

The rest of the pictures I took after the banquet.  I just followed Emily around and snapped pictures.  These girls are such a tight group.  So sad that so many of them are graduating in the Spring.

Here is Emily and her friend Jessie.  They both won coaches awards.  Jessie is on Varsity.

Emily and Jessie.  They play field hockey together, LAX together, they work together at DD and they just have fun together.  Jessie is a junior like Emily.  Thank goodness they still have another year together.

Emily and Jordan.  Jordan is a senior.

Emily and Julie.  Julie is such a wonderful young lady!!  Always taking Emily under her wing since Emily was a freshman.  Julie is a senior.

Lacey and Emily.  Lacey is a senior and always smiling with a great laugh!  These two played softball together when they were very young.  They were reunited in field hockey when Emily was a freshman. 

Julia and Emily.  The beautiful Julia!  She and Emily play LAX together as well.  Julia is a senior.

Kayla and Emily.  Kayla is the sweetest thing!!!  She is not only a great friend to Emily but she also looks out for Callie now that she is at the high school!  Kayla is a senior. side note: Kayla and Jessie (pictured with Emily and their awards above) are sisters.

Rachel and Emily.  Another sweet girl!  She hosts a lot of fun sleepovers for the girls.  Rachel is a senior.

Shannon and Emily.  Shannon was one of the first girls to make Emily feel like part of the team when Emily was a freshman.  She is also Emily's twin.  I often mistake them for each other on the field.  Shannon is a senior.

Callie and Emily.  Yes, there is another Callie in our lives.  Callie and Emily play both field hockey and LAX together.  Callie is a junior and they have known each other for a long time.

Beautiful girls inside and out.  Emily is very sad that most of these girls will be going off to college next year.  But what a great group of friends.  I couldn't have hand picked them any better!!

So, congratulations to Emily!  We are very proud of her hard work this season!!