 Welcome to the Laurel Martin show presented by Buffalo Wild Wings. I'm Sam Murray joined now with Stevenson field hockey head coach Laurel Martin and coach Season started off on a hot start started three and one currently sitting at four and five Right about the halfway point of the season right just talk about your team's play so far so We came out strong had a lot of good leadership from a pretty strong senior class and gained some confidence in and Had secured some wins and then we started to play some nationally ranked programs. So at that point stage I think we we competed with them, but we were handed a little bit of a step back With you know, I and I don't know for sure but I think we were contemplating and questioning how good are we because of the results from the nationally ranked programs and Now we're bouncing back from that and the recognition that we can compete with the best of the best and So hopefully we're on an upward swing because we face a tough one on Saturday You're talking about those nationally ranked teams you played Salisbury and Rowan The result if you look on paper probably not what you would want But talk about the teams play and what what playing those type of opponents does for you moving forward, right? And we and we played Catholic as well Now they dropped off of the nationally ranked things but they were nationally ranked earlier in the season and their program is strong And we took them to overtime and actually should have defeated that team You know against the Salisbury's and the Rowan's I think that the you know There's just a there's a difference between that caliber team and ours right now just with the I believe the mindset and just the perseverance and the overall ability to finish or stop the finishing so all three of those things but we're close and I think if we can put it into place and and kind of prove to ourselves that we can do it Then then we would compete with those types of programs, but right now. We're still working on that Yeah, moving into the field and talking about some certain players Sarah McVeigh Yeah, you called it at the start of the season you moved her back to forward from the midfield She has eight goals right now. She loves it there. Yeah, talk about her and her contribution to the team Well, you know Sarah is one of those Silent type of leaders, so she's not gonna be a type of kid that is You know yelling at her teammates and encouraging and that sort of a thing. She just shows by action So she is a naturally gifted athlete. She's got speed. She's got stick skill and she's you know And she's also as the season the progressing learning how to play some defense as well, so she's scored some brilliant goals and And she's really kept us kept us in many games. Yeah, offensively you have 17 goals just from four goal scorers Brigadier Rock has two goals. Brooke Morris has six Is that by plan? Did you feel like going into the season that you would have only a handful of goal scores? Or would you like to see it kind of spread spread throughout the team? Well, I mean I think if the the best squads usually have a widespread version of goal scores We're not being very successful on our specialties our attack penalty corners, so we're adjusting them But the goal scores are typically the forward line I would love to see some midfielders overlapping and scoring as well. I think Ashley Meyer has that capacity Katie Byram showing that she can eliminate and and get into the the top of the arch and take some shots and Lexi certainly can as well So I'd love to see them take the risk and and and get some goals themselves But the forwards aren't doing the job that they're supposed to do so and then move back to the defense It's the trio of Ashley Gladfelder Jordan Hershberger and Nikki Jones have started all nine games Yeah, talk about their contribution and how they've defensively been keeping you in games So those three are probably the most consistent players on the team Especially Ashley Gladfelder who was really I wasn't even certain if she would start this year She'd always sort of been vying for a main part of the program for many years and We tried her out in the spring in the middle of the field and she loved it and we loved her there so she's really worked hard always works hard and Is probably one of the best hustlers and just sort of I would call her a grinder on the field And then of course we've got Jordan who I can't ever say that I've seen Jordan have a bad game She's just consistent. She's steady She steps up at the right times. She's she's a calming force back there She's she's a wonderful attribute to the program and and then of course we've got Nikki who is just speed for speed She's as fast as any center forward out there. So there's no one that's gonna outrun her And she's got great low defense. She's fearless She'll take many a ball to the body as you probably witnessed last night and just keeps on going so She's she is a tough defender and one of the most challenging Well, probably the most difficult to get around from an attack perspective And then in the cage junior Kelsey year has been a constant for you coming off a season where she split time last year That started every game talk about her play So Kelsey's really really starting to establish herself and with any any player Really elevating it to the next level takes doing it and getting the confidence by by showing that you can make the big saves And and she's starting to make big saves and and she's practicing hard. She is loved by her teammates She's very much a team type of person when she doesn't start She doesn't complain she accepts her role and when she's out there starting she never brags She's just she's just a great great person and a good team person Now as we flip the page you already have one conference game under your belt the rest Yet to come yet to talk about talk about the goals that you have set for for your team for the second half of the year so We really want to make postseason You know and and then you you've got the really big lofty goal of going to the NCAA tournament Which would mean not only defeating the the number two ranked team in the nation with Messiah But that would mean beating all of the rest, you know making it to postseason In the top four for our conference and we have Arcadia and Alvernia and Lebedal and Weidner and Albright and you know and and hoods You know fighting to improve as well. So this is a tough conference and nothing's given for any game So we want to make it to postseason whether it's NCAA or ECAC We have the potential to do so we just have to do it Well coach, we wish you the best of luck the rest of the way. Thank you for head coach Laura Martin I'm Sam Murray and this has been the Laura Martin show