By Anna Manuel Contributing Writer
The women’s field hockey team is coached by Cynthia Pratt, this season is her 15th year. So far the field hockey team’s record is 1-4. “Our season has had both ups and downs. Our strength is our senatorship leadership and experience from some key upperclassman,” said Pratt. “Our weaknesses are lack of depth, our numbers are a little low this season so we are asking a lot of the players to play a lot of minutes, which is tough because we have a tough font-conference schedule.”
An offensive player, Kasey Talarico is from Lewiston, Maine and plays field hockey here at UMF. Talarico is a sophomore and is majoring in elementary education. She has been playing field hockey since she was in the fourth grade and all through high school. Playing a high school sport is much different at a college level. “Practice in high school is nothing compared to practice in college. Way more intense and physically demanding. Field hockey in high school can be more of a social thing. college is more where you want to win, and is more serious, which I like,” she said. The field hockey team has practice six times a week and then an off day. The team works hard everyday and have great attitudes.
One of Pratt’s favorite thing about being a coach is the relationships she forms with her players. “Watching them grow from their freshman year to their senior year then becoming lifelong friends and following their careers and lives as they move on and become responsible adults.” Here at UMF there are a variety of varsity athletes, some even play two or three sports.
A lot of students feel that balancing school with sports helps them as a student. “Sports is a big time commitment, sometimes I think to myself that I am so stressed out because I have a lot of work to do and don’t have enough time in the day to fit it all in. But then also it helps me have more of a schedule, I know I don’t have a lot of free time, so I know when I need to get any work done” Talarico said. Senior Chelsea Ballard from Fairfield, Maine agrees field hockey has helped her stay organized. Ballard is a senior this year and has been playing field hockey for about twelve years. Ballard is one of many seniors on the team this year. “Playing field hockey at UMF is awesome because I met a bunch of lifelong friends. I met lifelong friends not only through
field hockey, but because I am an athlete here at UMF. It is also really rewarding to be on a team working together in order to compete and win,” said Ballard. The field hockey team still has a long season to improve and win more games.