The Ladue field hockey team has come to the end of their fall season. This year the girls had a great record of sixteen wins and only eight losses.
Their season began with the Gateway Classic over Labor Day weekend. Ladue won their first game against Holland Hall 5-1, but couldn’t win the second game. However, the girls had some great upsets over the course of the season, even beating John Burroughs for the first time in school history.
“One of the most exciting parts of this year was beating John Burroughs during the regular season,” Coach Barbara Dwyer said.
Towards the middle of the season, the team hit a rough spot. A tough schedule resulted in multiple losses in a row. The team’s lack of depth on the field forced Dwyer to pull up several players from junior varsity.
“Our losing streak was a mental obstacle more than a physical one,” senior captain Grace Waldman said.
During the month of October, the team decided to hold a “Play 4 the Cure” game against local rival MICDS to raise donations to aid cancer research. Ladue ended up losing the game 3-0, but the game was a great experience for all the players.
“Although we didn’t take home the win, the field hockey team had an amazing time kicking cancer’s butt,” sophomore Lucy Jonas said.
The game was dedicated to parents of players on the team that were currently going through cancer treatment. In all the team raised six hundred dollars, both from donations and selling pink shirts and bracelets.
“It was one of the highlights of the season for me, seeing all the pink on the field and in the stands,” Dwyer said. “The school staff and parents were very supportive.”
The team later moved onto the playoffs, the Midwest tournament. The team first beat Parkway West and later moved on to what would be one of the most exciting matches of the entire season. It was Ladue verses Ursuline, with the winner advancing to the final eight teams in the tournament. After a scoreless game in regulation, the game progressed to two overtimes, and finally a one-on-one shootout. The team prevailed, winning the game and advancing to the Elite Eight. However that was as far as Ladue would get in the tournament, losing their next match to MICDS. Overall the team finished impressively at second place in the public school conference, with their only loss to Marquette.
