By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Over the past few years, the Hopedale field hockey team has found its way into the Division 4 State Tournament. Having lost in the Round of 32 in 2021 and 2022 the Blue Raiders were able to advance into the Quarter Finals last year only to fall to Manchester Essex. 

 

Being that the Hopedale field hockey team has had some success on the field, they are finding out that the younger girls are starting to gravitate to the sport. Hopedale/Milford, a team made up of first and second graders, put together a successful season this year under the guidance of Head Coach Katie Gallerane Leone and her assistant coaches Becky Knox, Brittany Pessotti and Sarah Greco. The coaching staff is made up of high school field hockey players themselves as well as still playing in women’s recreational leagues now thought the area.

The Blue Raiders went an impressive 8-0 during the regular season before heading into the jamboree, a tournament style of play to round out the season.  In the jamboree the local team opened with their first loss of the season falling 2-0 to Holliston but bounced back to win their final two games by defeating Bellingham 5-1 and Medway 4-0.

“The girls played tough and dominated the field,” Assistant Coach Knox said. 

When the season got underway the Blue Raiders started off strong, something that shocked the coaching staff and the girls continued to play extremely well and put up wins in the Commonwealth League.

“Last year’s team had a mix of returners and strong players with the girls working hard during the off-season,” the Assistant Coach said. “The girls took part in other programs to help themselves get better for this season.”

In the past the Hopedale/ Milford team would have approximately 12 girls on their roster during any given year, but this season the Blue Raiders were able to field 17 girls. Leading scorers through the 8-game regular season were Brynn Knox, Elly Pessotti, Emilia Nelson and Giuliana Leone.

“The whole concept of this program is to get the girls interested in the sport of field hockey while having fun and hopefully they will continue to play it as the years go on,” Knox said. “We’re hoping that a lot of them decide to stick with the sport and continue to grow while building their skills and eventually moving on to play on the high school level.”

Playing in the Commonwealth League each and every girl on the Blue Raiders roster gets the opportunity to play. Throughout their undefeated season Hopedale /Milford rarely found themselves in a tough fought battel. The only game that was close came against Holliston, the team to eventually beat the Blue Raiders in the jamboree,. During the regular season Hopedale/Milford walked off the field with a hard fought 8-7 victory. 

According to the Assistant Coach, the girls were continually working hard as a team throughout the season, thus the ability to go undefeated. During practices they are not only learning the basic skills of the game but they are participating in drills, in addition to learning how to properly handle their sticks giving them the tools they need to be able to advance though the sport and eventually play as they get older. 

Hopedale/Milford is always looking for those younger players who want to learn about the game of field hockey to join the team for next season. Anyone interested in finding out more about the Hopedale/Milford field hockey team can follow the team on their Facebook page.