Season Preview: Young Field Hockey Team Ready To Write Their Own Story

The Whaler field hockey program has become one of Nantucket’s most consistent in recent years, clinching spots in the MIAA State Tournament year after year. This fall, it will be a young team led by captains Evie Phelps and Sophia Sullivan that is hoping to continue the winning culture established by their predecessors.

"It's definitely a newer situation than we've been in in recent years because we've just graduated so many girls over the last two years," head coach Dan Weber said. "But it's exciting. It's a younger team and an athletic team, and one that seems to really enjoy playing with each other. It's been a good preseason, and even though we've had some pretty big turnover, the expectation is the expectation. I think now we've kind of set it where we should be competitive every year, and I don't think that's going to change this year.”

Weber is entering his eighth season as the leader of the program. In his first seven seasons, he has had lots of consistency in net with Maclaine Willett starting his first three seasons and Shelbi Harimon starting the previous four. This year, Magdalena Gonzalez will be the Whaler’s starting goalie and Weber is excited to see the senior get her shot.

“She has worked hard and waited and she looks good. She looks ready to go," Weber said. "I think that she's got her opportunity and she's ready to step in and take it. She hasn't played a lot of varsity minutes, but she's seen a lot of varsity field hockey and played a lot of varsity field hockey in practice. So it's not like she's going in there having never seen the speed of the game. She's a senior and she's got experience and she knows what the deal is.”

As for his captains, Weber praised Phelps' versatility to play midfield and forward while saying that Sullivan may have been the best player on the field in the Whaler’s scrimmage against Barnstable.

“They’ll be really big and important for us,” Weber said. “Sophia is probably going to find herself in the midfield. She's looked really, really, really good in preseason, in the scrimmages, and in practice. I thought she was the best player on the field in our scrimmage versus Barnstable. Rowan (Paul) is going to be important for us for sure. She scored 11 goals last year. She had two or three hat tricks, so she can score them in bunches. But she played all offseason and so she looks pretty poised to have another strong year. I think another one to watch is Ava Watson, who's our only returning defender. She played a bunch last year, and she looks ready to be that calming, assertive presence in the backline.”

The Whalers begin their season on Thursday, September 10^th at home against Falmouth High School at 4:30 p.m. You can view their full schedule here.