After an impressive 12-0 win in a scrimmage against Earlham College last Saturday, the field hockey team feels confident about the future of their 2011 campaign.
The squad takes to the road this weekend, playing Lynchburg College today at 6 p.m. and Washington College at the same time Saturday.
After the successful scrimmage last week, the Tigers are riding a wave of momentum into the regular season.
"It was really encouraging for us," said senior midfielder Sarah Maher on WGRE's Tiger Talk on Wednesday. "Scrimmages are mainly used to experiment and see what our starting line is going to be. It was a time to see who plays well together and a great success."
Sophomore Chelsea Cutler said that while the offensive has been looking sharp, the team returned to the drawing board to work on defensive transitions.
"It's something we really need to improve on," Cutler said.
Along with the change in conferences this year, the team has made many positional and strategic adjustments.
"We have a completely new formation from last year," Cutler said. "Players will be taking on new positions from last year, which is an adjustment."
Senior forward Alyssa Collin believes the new formation has already been successful.
"We now have five full forwards," Collin said on Tiger Talk. "A lot of passing and a lot of moving up front."
With Collin's position change, she works as one of three players behind the forwards. Collins compiled three assists during the scrimmage Saturday.
Maher has also been making modifications to her play in the new formation.
"The midfield really focuses on pushing up and supporting the forwards," Maher said.
The team's roster has seen quite a few changes this year, too. With the loss of two seniors, forward Katie Sowar and goalkeeper Liz Attewell, the team gained 11 freshmen.
"They want to be there and they want to play," said senior forward Luisa Myavec.
Cutler believes that is the most important thing for the team right now.
With a full field and two new freshman goalies, the team can now practice in full field drills, something it has not been able to do with just one goalkeeper on the roster in previous years.
"We now have five seniors instead of two," Collin said. "That really helps with leadership and energy on the field."