For the JV field hockey team, this was a season of back and forth, ups and downs, and wins and losses that ended in an overall record of 4-9-1. For junior Megan Raisch, this season was a memorable experience.

“Overall I feel very happy with how my first season went,” Megan said. “Though our record could have been better, I never stopped enjoying playing.”

At the beginning of the season, the team struggled with finding its groove and part of this was because this team combines with Eastern, Northern, and one player all the way from Kalamazoo. From a coach’s perspective, coming together as well as this team did was an impressive feat.

“The teammates developed great friendships with students from other schools,” Head coach Carol Aaron said. “The girls worked together like a family.”

Early in the season, the girls were up and down. They took an early victory against EGR but fell in their next game to Mercy High. The lowest part of the season for this team was their loss against the Ann Arbor Pioneers, where they lost by a score of 8-0. Despite that tough loss, the team didn’t give up.

“The team amazed me with the level of improvement shown in our last few games,” Megan said. “Getting to know the players over the course of the season helped build a trust between us that really showed itself in our later games.”

It took the team a little bit of time, but once the players found out what they needed to fix, FH quickly changed their game for the better.

“We started scoring more at the end of the season,” Megan said. “With a combination of ball movement and enhanced communication, our game improved.”

For this team, adaptation was another key to improving. Many players moved around positions and this was crucial in their successful games.

“Many players were willing to play other positions,” Aaron said. “They did it just for the overall good of the team.”

With this season at its end, the JV team now has to look at what its moves for the future are. One bright light for the team is freshman Remmie Gavle.

“I’m looking forward to the freshmen coming in [next year],” Remmie said. “We have a lot of strong players coming. I think once we form that bond in our team then we can really look to improve next season.”

For Remmie, she looks to be a future leader for the JV team and the varsity team after that. Many players will be leaving JV and moving up to the varsity team and will use their experience from this year in the upcoming season.

“My personal plans for next season are to resume a starting position as a center for the varsity team,” Megan said. “I’ll meet some new girls and continue to develop my skills as a field hockey player.”

This season, although maybe not as successful as the team hoped, will always be memorable and the players will always take pride in their improvement as a team.

“I’m so proud of the changes that we made,” Remmie said. “I’m proud of how we came together as a team and just played stronger together.”