Cox Field Hockey Returns 'Fab 5'
Last year was supposed to be the year.
After advancing deep in the state playoffs the season before, the Cox High School girl's field hockey team was ready to take their place as state champions in 2005. For most of the year, everything was going according to plan as the girls finished the regular season with an impressive 20-2-1 record. The Falcons would soon find out though that not everything always goes according to plan as they were defeated in the quarterfinals by Stafford, who would go on to win the state title.
"It was heartbreaking," head coach Julie Swain says of the last minute loss to Stafford. The bad news for Coach Swain in 2006 is that the team graduated three seniors from last year's squad. The good news: this year's team will be led by five experienced seniors, three of which were the top three scorers in the Eastern Region last season.
Not a bad consolation prize.
"We have a lot of depth this year," Swain says, "I have great kids at every position, and a lot of experience."
With the five seniors (Jenn Harr, Taylor Harrell, Kaitlyn Hiltz, Carly Rosenmeier, and Danielle Schissom) the Cox Falcons will feature a "Fab Five" of their own as they look to accomplish this season what they couldn't last.
The only thing is, none of them are talking about winning the state championship. "We don't need to necessarily think about winning states," Harr says, "We just need to have a great work ethic and attitude and take it day by day."
"I think that we're going to have to get them," Hiltz says about those attributes, "And I think we understand that's what we need to get [to the state title] because our team definitely has the skill and talent."
Even with all the individual talent on the team, there seems to be a shift in focus from what they can achieve on their own to what they can achieve together. "We're just trying to work harder," Schissom says, "And focus on the small things like just getting back after goals." Harrell echoes the thoughts of her teammate. "'Whatever it takes' was our theme going into the preseason," she says, "We just have more heart in it this year than any other year."
But don't get these girls wrong, they still want to win. Even with the renewed focus, there is still a desire to go as far as they can together and maybe cap off their careers with a state title. "We're working really hard to get to states and we really want it bad," Rosenmeier says, "But if we just play as hard as we can, that's all we can do."
