“A different team:” Griffins field hockey

10/21/04

By Denishia Salter,
Staff Writer

Seton Hill University’s women’s field hockey faces a 22 game schedule in it’s second year, loaded with five regionally ranked teams and some of the best schools in the northeast.

After a 3-2 win against Shenandoah in four overtimes and a clear-cut 2-0 win over Wells College this weekend, the Lady Griffins are now 5-8-1, already approaching last years 6-9 mark.

However, this year’s field hockey team is completely different from last year’s team.

“Seeing how this is a different team, our coaches have certainly changed the structure, game strategies and even practice sessions, to ensure that the team is ready to compete against some of the best schools on our schedule,” said Martina Burton, junior.

The Lady Griffins are also facing the challenges of having a young team, consisting of mostly freshmen and sophomores.

“It is important to remember that this is only our second season of competition and we are still very young. We have two junior starters [Martina Burton and Kristen Zullo] with rest of the team being freshmen and sophomores,” said Jessica Black, the field hockey head coach.

Kristen Zullo, junior, has high hopes for this year’s recruiting class. “We brought in some very talented freshmen who will add to our current talent,” she said.

Goalie Meredith Benson and full back Melanie Benson, freshmen, will both play integral roles on the Griffins’ defense.

“It has been a frustrating year in some respects so far, since we have dominated several games, out shooting our opponents by a 5 to 1 margin, but just not finding the goal. A lot of teams would have given up by now...instead we talk about the games, the system, the problems and continue to search for and work toward a resolution to those problems,” said Black.

“I think our team is much stronger this year and we have already improved so much more. I am confident that we will have a great season,” said Zullo.

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Posted by Setonian Online at October 21, 2004 02:17 PM