The girls field hockey team defeated Homestead 1-0 in their first home game of the season today, September 1.

The first half saw an intense back and forth between the two teams, as neither was able to score a point under the scorching sun. A minute into the second half, however, a player from Homestead collided with one of the Eagles.

While no one was harmed, this was not the end to the excitement, as the Eagles began an aggressive assault forward and rarely allowed the opposing team the chance to bring the ball past the midfield line.

Thirteen minutes into this determined advance, with the defenders and the coach yelling encouragement and advice, Captain senior Lisa Murphy scored the first and only goal of the game, accompanied by the drums of the practicing Marching Band.

The Eagles continued their pressure on the opposing team’s defense. With 10 minutes left, Homestead broke past the midfield. Although they were quickly repulsed, they came back again at eight minutes and three. Despite having a very close near-miss with a minute left on the clock, they were not able to score.

“I think we did pretty well today,” senior Roslyn Braun said. “I think we’re going to be a good team and we’ve improved a lot from our practices.”

The team had just recently changed their formation to two sweepers, three defenders, three midfielders and two forwards.

“We’re in a really good division with a lot of tough schools,” Coach Mary Donahue said. “We need to focus on working better as a team in this formation, improving defense and scoring more goals.”

Though the game against Homestead, which is in a division below LAHS, is the first of the season, the Eagles had played in a mini-scrimmage tournament last Saturday, August 27.

“We’re still getting the hang of everything,” Lisa said. “But we have a lot of potential. We’re hoping to go really far in CCS.”