CHS returns 11 players from last year’s squad
When Lia Peterson stepped in, and up, as the Christopher High varsity field hockey head coach in mid-July, the former prep hockey player had an idea of how to continue to grow a Cougars’ program on the cusp of fielding a team for just the third season, second at the varsity level.
As the junior varsity coach in 2010, Peterson noticed a lack of continuity between the JV and varsity squads. Taking that into consideration, Peterson decided to bring the two levels together on a regular basis, teaching the same skills and system to all involved.
“We kind of did a lot of things separately, JV and varsity, which created differences in style. So in order to create a little more fluidity between the two programs, I decided early on we would do more together,” Peterson said at practice Wednesday, gazing over a herd of 42 players, filling up nearly every green space from center field to right field on the CHS baseball diamond.
With the largest turnout of athletes at her disposal, Peterson and the Cougars appear to be well on their way to building a longstanding tradition.
“We just had our league meeting and the other coaches were surprised with what we had out here,” Peterson said.
The make-up of the 2011 varsity Cougars is a combination of 11 returners and six up from JV.
Of the 11 varsity veterans, six are seniors – Sophia Amelio, Danielle Dias, Janelle Hernandez, Mariah Martinez, Haylee Peterson and Abby Smith.
Juniors Maddie Peterson, Raquel Roberts, Arianna Vasquez and Erika Velasquez had more experienced leadership as they enter their second year on varsity.
“They understand each other and how they play,” Peterson said. “It looks like it’s really starting to gel.”
CHS had its chances to shake up the Mission Trail Athletic League during its inaugural season in the conference. Despite winning just twice in league, CHS did salvage five ties, finishing in fifth place out of seven with a 2-7-5 record, leaving plenty of room for upward movement through the ranks of the MTAL in 2011.
Where the Cougars encountered most of their trouble last fall came in the circle and inconsistencies finishing scoring chances. CHS managed just 10 goals in 14 league games in 2010. It’s an area that has been addressed.
“We are trying a couple of different things,” Peterson said.
“One is eliminating the sweeper position, kind of moving more offense forward so we will have four up front and hopefully that’ll help push things in. And then just shifting players around position-wise to see if we can get some strength up front while continuing to have strength in back.”
Every league contest carries its own significance, but two especially important tilts are Sept. 26 and Oct. 20 against defending league champion North Salinas, which lost 11 players to graduation, and Oct. 4 and Oct. 28 versus Stevenson, runners-up a year ago.
“There is a ton of opportunity. And last year, there were so many close games,” Peterson said.
“There’s some stick-handling they we have to work on, covering, the ability to move the ball a little bit more. There are some tweaks and fine-tuning that still need to happen, but for the most part they look like they are getting it.”
