The Madison Field Hockey team began their season with a fresh set of faces and a new team dynamic. After the loss of 11 seniors from last season, one of which was a member of the state championship team in 2021, the team had a different look this year. With a total of eight underclassmen on the 20-person varsity team this season, the eight returning Warhawks took on more authoritative roles in order to meet the needs of all players, and help the team succeed.

“We’re a young team, so our captains and seniors have had to take on a lot more responsibilities,” midfielder Elizabeth Cate (’26) said. “All of the returning varsity players have had to introduce the new players to the game, and kind of what’s going on at this level.”

Led by head coach Carrie Holman and captains Claire Casto (’25), Teagan Hastings (’26) and Bridgette Huffman (’24), the Warhawks began their season with tryouts in early August, followed by a tournament weekend in Rehoboth Beach before school began. Their 7-8 win-loss record (as of 10/16/23) begged the question of post-season success.

“We really just want to win and do well,” Cate said. “We have a lot of newer players so it would be fun to win districts, regionals, states, or whatever we can.”

Against tough competitors (like regional champs Yorktown), the team’s old strategy for success had to be developed to to best fit the skills of the new players.

“We had to change a lot of the lineup, we’ve tried a different formation to better fit the needs of our team,” defender Caroline Berry said. “We’re really just new so we’re still working on how to get to a good place as a team.”