By: Ashley Young — Correspondent

Sharon’s Varsity Field Hockey team played twice at home this past week facing Canton, the current #1 team of the Davenport division, and Mansfield. The Eagles started off the week strong, holding Mansfield to only three goals, but lost focus in the face of the Bulldogs losing 7–0. 

Despite these losses, the team is playing better every game. “Overall, I think that was the best game we have ever played. It was the best teamwork we have ever displayed. We weaved, we passed, we had shots on net. It was a really great game,” said senior captain Abby Gott. 

Against Mansfield, the team had a rough start allowing two goals during the first five minutes of the first quarter. But, they managed to turn it around and hold the Hornets to only one other goal in the final three quarters.

Senior captain Shiraz Becker said she was thrilled with the way the team played against Mansfield despite Sharon’s underdog reputation. “We could tell that Mansfield felt really challenged. We gave them a run for their money. They thought this was going to be an easy game with an insane difference in goals but we were able to hold them to 0-3,” said Becker.

“We did a really good job on maintaining our diamond shape which is something we have been focusing on. This helps us bring the ball up the field which we were really successful in doing. We have definitely seen a lot of improvements in this game compared to previous games,” senior captain Rachel Glass added.

The Eagles were left with only two subs on the sidelines due to injuries from earlier in the season. This forced players to fill positions they have not typically played. “We only had two subs, but we still managed to keep the intensity up. Seniors Emilie Allaire and Ariana Yancey had to play positions that they did not typically play due to the lack of subs. This shows our team’s ability to step up and support each other,” said Glass.

The Eagles fought hard against Canton and the intensity was there, but the Eagles struggled to hold their positions, mark up on players, and work cohesively together to bring the ball onto the Bulldogs’ half of the field. “We didn’t mark up on our people as much as we should have, but if we do that we will see major improvements in future games,” said senior Ariana Yancey.

After Week 4 of the 2021 fall season, the Eagles are now 0-8. They travel to Attleboro and Stoughton next week. Heading into Week 5, Stoughton and Sharon hold the bottom two spots in the Davenport division standings, both with records of 0-8. Sharon hopes to bring the same intensity they brought against Mansfield to Stoughton in order to improve their record to 1-8.