Field Hockey's Covid Season

Due to COVID, various fall sports aren’t playing this year. Field hockey is very lucky to be able to play this season and not be pushed back into “fall 2” or the “floater” season which will start in February and end at some point in April.

Although field hockey is running, the rules have changed drastically. Usually there are 11 girls on the field, 10 field players and a goalie. But because of the new COVID rules MIAA made in an attempt to try and make playing safer, there are only 7 girls allowed on the field at once, 6 field and a goalie, and girls are required to wear masks all the time. There are no penalty corners, which also changes the game.

In addition to the many physical rule changes, MIAA changed what teams play each other, Franklin county will only play other Franklin county teams. So Greenfield will only play Tech, Pioneer, Frontier, Turners, Mohawk, Athol, and Mahar. These are teams they usually do not play. These teams, other than Frontier, are in a different league which is a completely different style of play. During a normal season, they won’t face the challenging teams Greenfield does, so it should be interesting to see what each team brings to the table, or field in this case.

Greenfield's team isn’t going into the season cocky. The new rules and division will pose a challenge for them and it puts the team in a position where they don’t know what to expect, but they’re taking every game as seriously as they would have during a normal season. Coach Erin Thayer wants her team to continue to make a statement, she is holding them to the same standard she did last year and she is treating the season the same as she would last year.

I interviewed Kaylah Eggsware to see what she had to say about the season. “I am excited to see where the season is heading! Although it’s different than normal and almost everything has changed, I think it will be a lot of fun playing against teams we don’t see in the regular season. Coach Erin is making it seem like this is a normal season and trying to help us treat it that way too so we don’t play down a level. She wants us to play as if we are playing against the top tier team every game.”

The Wave’s first match was on Monday Oct 5th against Athol. They won by 16-0 and many of the JV players who were pulled up saw amazing time! They were ecstatic about the first win and getting back on the field.

PostScript - Since publication, our senior Katie Haselton hit a real milestone with her 100th career goal. Way to go Katie!