The Huntington High School field hockey team enjoyed a great set of pre-season conditioning sessions. The Blue Devils loved being together again and the group believes it will be very competitive during the rescheduled season, now set to begin on March 1.
Coached by Kathy Wright and Allison Conlon, the Huntington varsity returns Grace Agrillo, Laurel Bonn, Gemma Cartwright, Andrea Delcid, Isabella DiBenedetto, Mackenzie Eccles, Tessie Maerz, Lisa Martin, Gianna Prosseda, Julie Rogel, Tess Stanley, Stephanie Wickey, Riley Zink, Carlee Schultz, Kaci McDonald, Erin Scanlon and Grace Allen.
“Our pre-season conditioning went very well,” Rogel said. “It was so nice for everyone to be able to play together again under the guidance of our coaches. Even though we are a young team, we are looking very strong for this season. We are all so excited to play in March and are confident that we will do well in our league.”
Rogel (All-Division goalie award), Agrillo (Unsung Hero Award) and Bonn (All-Tournament) all garnered post-season awards in 2019.
The pre-season training sessions drew many players. “I think it went very well,” DiBenedetto said. “It was nice to be able to play with the team again and receive guidance from our amazing coaches. The team is looking great and I really hope we’ll get to play our season in March. I am confident that we’re going to do very well and have a very strong team this year.”
The Blue Devils lost seven seniors from last year’s team to graduation, including Anna Wickey, Holly Wright, Megan Byrnes, Maya Santa-Maria, Lauren LoScalzo, Brooke Biernacki and Madelyn Kye.
The team looked surprisingly sharp during pre-season conditioning. “It went really well,” Agrillo said. “We were able to practice together as a team and really practice our stick skills. All the girls got a chance to play on the new turf, which was good.”
The Blue Devil schedule includes 14 games with the season opener at home against North Babylon on March 8 at 4 p.m. Contests against Commack, Copiague, Lindenhurst, Northport, Smithtown West, Smithtown East, Walt Whitman, Sachem East, West Islip, Ward Melville, Newfield, Bay Shore and William Floyd
The pre-season sessions were really needed to bring the team together and they did the trick.
“It was great,” Delcid said. “It was great to see everyone again after so long. We had so much fun being together as a team again. It was a moment we were all anticipating and were very excited about. We took safety measures to ensure everyone was safe and COVID-free while also being able to play together.”