The women’s field hockey team finished its season with a 10-7 record—a six win improvement over last year’s 4-13 finish—while also capturing third place in the DAC-VII conference.
The team earned a spot in the state tournament, where the Tigers fell to East Chapel Hill High School 2-1 on October 25 in the first round.
Three of the team’s eight senior players were selected to compete in the postseason North Carolina’s All-Star Game on November 6: Claire Willoughby, Olivia DeHart and Lucia Tidmore.
Tidmore led the season with 15 goals, and Claire Willoughby scored 12. Willoughby and freshman Scarlet Gilner each completed the season with ten assists.
Senior goalie Olivia Dehart, who started her field hockey career this year, finished with 91 saves and nine total shutouts, while also being ranked in the top three in the state for goals against average and in the top ten for saves.
The team was led by two new coaches: varsity head coach Jessica Russell, who played collegiately for Thomas College in Maine, and assistant coach and head junior varsity coach Kalil Saffran, a math teacher new to the school this year.
Saffran looks back at the season fondly.
“The girls made a big improvement from last year, which showed through their great season,” Saffran said.
A fan of the team, sophomore Ashton Beale enjoyed attending matches and watching the Tigers more than double their wins from last season
“[Having attended] every game last season, the improvement the girls made is almost unreal, and they are such a fun team to watch,” Beale said.
Senior forward Sarah Bozymski scored four goals (up from one goal last season), contributing to the team’s overall improvement.
“We had a new coach, and [the season] was really different from last year in a positive way. We made it to playoffs and we came really close to beating East and Gibbons and teams we didn’t compete against last year,” Bozymski said.
Tidmore ended the season ranked tenth in the state for total points. Willoughby, in her fourth and final year on the team, finished 13th for total points and sixth in assists.
“I will miss it and these people so much, but I am so thankful for the best four years of field hockey,” Willoughby said.
