the Cafe
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The first half was barely 10 minutes old and already things were not going well for the Indian River field hockey team.
Trailing Worcester Country School from Berlin, Md., 1-0, the Indians were being badly outshot and could not push the ball out of their own zone.
"My kids are all chasing the ball," said frustrated IR coach Cheryl Carey, addressing no one in particular.
Carey finally called timeout at the 16:35 mark and implored her team to take better care of the ball. The Indians followed her advice and began creating scoring opportunities in the Worcester zone.
But despite getting a number of penalty corner chances in the second half and playing a much-improved brand of hockey, IR was never able to put the ball in the goal and lost its home opener 1-0.
It was the type of frustrating afternoon a youthful IR squad could experience often in 1998.
"We got outplayed," Carey said afterwards. "My kids didn't pass the ball. We played a long-ball game. We've got to play with finesse and a short-ball game.
"My kids are young. I walk into every game and I want to win and so do my kids. But we also need to be satisfied with playing well and that's what wešre trying to do. We're trying to do the little things right and today we didn't. We can't be satisfied with what we saw today because the little things that we're working on -- defensive positioning and short give-and-goes -- we didn't do those today."
The Indians were hit hard by graduation in the offseason, losing standouts Christi McHale, Shawn Browne, Melissa Adams, Joni Hill, Shannon Simons and Jessica Stevens.
IRšs lone returning starter, senior Sarah Lyons, is surrounded by players with little or no varsity experience. This will likely result in some growing pains, especially early in the season.
"Every day, we're trying to improve," Carey said. "Frustration is good, I think, because when you're frustrated then you're not satisfied."
Helping Lyons fill the void left by graduation are seniors Kerrie Heim, Emily Revel and Keri Page, junior goalie Kami Banks and sophomore Cara Deldeo. Carey has also been impressed with the play of freshman Julene Gamble and sophomore Sam Wilkinson.
As the season progresses and young players get more experience, they will pick up many of the game's subtleties, such as proper positioning, Carey said.
"We're rebuilding but we'd like to think that we'll be competitive with anybody we play," she said. "I'm hoping to be more up than down. I don't ever approach any day that I don't feel we can play because on any given day anybody can be beat."
For now, however, the team must gel as a unit and not fall into what Carey calls "a panic game."
"They need to be able to feel the game," Carey said. "They need to be able to read each other and feel the give-and-go and know when to commit and when not to."
And like so many other young teams, IR will master those skills in time.
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