During a year like no other, the field hockey team is prohibited from playing other teams, so they had to get creative with their season.

This season, the only real competition they will face is themselves: instead of playing against other teams on weeknights, the team competes in Friday scrimmages.

The coaches split the teams up into two scrimmages: the first is a mixture of junior varsity (JV) and C team players who play at 4 p.m., and the second is a mix of varsity and JV who play at 5:30 p.m. 

Sophomore Morgan Hanson, a second year player, is glad that she is still able to play.

“…I think the coaches did a great job with coming up with an alternative,” Hanson said. “The scrimmages have been going really well, and we’re still getting the game play and the intensity that comes with it.”

Senior Stella Kuchta agrees but says it’s been an adjustment. 

“It’s definitely been a challenge to get used to this new way of life, but I think the field hockey team is handling it as well as we can,” Kuchta said. 

During these scrimmages, players compete against teammates they have potentially played alongside for years.

According to senior and co-captain Gabbi Trauernicht, the scrimmages are an accurate representation of how they usually play because, even though she has been playing alongside some of these girls for four years, it gives them an opportunity to challenge each other to try new strategies and techniques.

“It’s almost like we’re playing a different team in a way because we don’t know that they have planned at all,” Trauernicht said. 

For Hanson and Kuchta, though, playing against their teammates doesn’t feel much different; as JV players last season, scrimmages were a common occurrence. 

“…[Scrimmaging] is less pressure than an actual game which can make it lots of fun,” Kuchta said.

With only two scrimmages left out of their six-scrimmage series as of Sept. 11, the field hockey season is quickly coming to a close. 

Trauernicht summarized the season with one phrase: “…When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. That’s exactly what we’ve done. The governor told us we can’t play over state lines or out of our region, so we decided to play each other to become better.”