“Not a lot was expected of us this year,” said Nora Gerstenberger, senior captain, “and for the girls to step up was really big.” The girls who made up this year’s field hockey team received nothing but praise from both Coach Tornetta and senior captain Nora Gerstenberger. Although this team may have started out young and inexperienced, they definitely worked together to become a solid team. The team’s record for regular season was 9-7-0 and overall they were 10-8-0. During districts, the team’s record was 1-1. They beat Jenkintown in their first game 3-1, but against Villa Maria they lost 3-0. “We made them earn it!” said Nora Gerstenberger.

Coach Tornetta has been coaching field hockey for 20 years and of those years and he has been head coach for ten of them. Ashley Dvorak also helps the team as the assistant coach. Throughout the year, the team has steadily improved. “The whole team went from JV to a varsity team,” said Coach Tornetta, due to the fact that they lost a lot of their starting seniors from last year. The team’s captains, Nora Gerstenberger, Miranda Peto and Jenna DeLeone, along with senior Kathleen Mizii, have helped lead the team this year. Some underclassmen also stepped up their game to make it a great season including Maggie Kochinsky, Molly Ferguson and Monicka Fosnocht. Coach Tornetta said Rachel Yacovett was a great goalie for the team this year.

There have been many outstanding moments for the field hockey team this year. The team worked hard to come from behind in a game against Upper Perk. The final score was 2-1, with Maggie Kochinsky and Katie Benner scoring one goal each in the last five minutes. Phoenixville’s toughest opponent this year has been Methacton, who they lost to 4-0. Another great accomplishment for the team this year was making the Final Four, which they haven’t done in the past two years. Despite making the Final Four and beating some hard teams along the way, Coach Tornetta thinks the biggest accomplishment this year was becoming a unified team. “[The team] slowly and steadily improved,” explained Coach Tornetta.

Although the team will once again lose some key seniors to college, Coach Tornetta believes they have “a nice returning core group of girls.” Coach Tornetta thinks this year’s JV team will have to step it up for next year. Throughout the year, the field hockey team has worked really hard to turn a young group into a winning varsity team. Great job this year girls!

Posted by

By Laura Gronski