 Welcome to Go Mustang Sports. I am Dave McHugh joined by field hockey head coach Laurel Martin after the team's first few games of the season. We talked in the preseason. I know you wanted to get off on a good foot. I suspect you would say you probably did with two wins to start the first weekend and three overall. Yeah, yeah, it was a great start. The opening weekend at the York Invitational was a great opener for us. We played strong halves in both games, not both halves, but strong halves in both games to secure wins. So I was I was pleased with that. Yeah, so you get two wins there, a certain mass momentum, then the schedule changes on you a little bit. You're supposed to go to Washington College. That game was already going to probably be rescheduled time-wise due to field conditions and the problems they're having there. But then instead a couple days ahead of time the game ends up moving to Stevenson. Was that any bit of a distraction with just the the nuances of that or was it maybe a little bit easier that it did come to the home field? I don't think it was a distraction for the team. I think, you know, obviously home field advantage is nice to have. A little bit of a logistical challenge for the coaching staff. Sure. Trying to organize the officials and making sure that we could get the field accommodations, all of those things. But you know, it was a good thing to be able to play on a good surface. Yeah, Washington College, not that we'll get into it having some problems with their fields, which has affected all their teams. And so at least you guys got a good game under your belt in the sense of field conditions. Though I know as a coach it wasn't necessarily a good game in the sense of they shut you guys out and you come over with a tough loss. Yeah, it was a tough loss for us. I have to give them credit. They're athletic, they have some big hitters, well coached, so I think that team is going to surprise some opponents. On our end, we did not play up to even close to what we are able to do. So yeah, disappointing loss. But then we gathered in together after that loss, had a true heart to heart as far as what the expectations were and what we can actually accomplish this season. And the team responded well. So we were able to bounce back. I was going to say with a tough game with Rowan coming up, to have that tough loss, that can almost have a hangover effect. That going into the Rowan game maybe not really buying in or worse not sure they can accomplish what they can against a really tough getting votes in the top 25. Tough team in Rowan and you guys get not only a distracted game due to the weather, but you get a really solid win in overtime against that. Yeah, no exciting, exciting game and it's, you know, I found that our team rises to the occasion against the tough competitors and we play our A game and certainly we had to to give Rowan the battle that we did. Good team, athletic team, so I was so happy and so pleased with how we performed that game. That game had a lot of little things about it. You had the weather delays from the previous one at soccer game, two lightning delays there. You guys start an hour late, eight o'clock at night, so now it's already a late night. Then you'd throw in a lightning delay of your own. The game ends late, it goes into overtime. I mean there's just, we're dragging out what is normally a schedule for your team and it looks like despite all that responded well. Yeah, responded great and I think that's, you know, the approach is always light in the area, stay focused, stay happy and just roll with the things that you can control and that was our approach to the game. And yeah, I was just pleased, little kid on Christmas day with that win. Well, two one and overtime. Not certainly a high scoring affair, but what were the nuances? What were the things you guys did well to not only keep that as a one-one game, but to ultimately get the victory? Well, I mean it could have gone either way, obviously. So Rowan had their chances and I think Gaby did a great job in goal for us. She came up with some really big saves and then on the other end we have some speed on the attack and you know, Katelyn Dempsey's going to be marked and she was marked, but she's also able to create the assists which was neat to see as well and Holly had a great game with two goal winners and we're starting to show that it's not just the Katelyn Dempsey show. We've got some, you know, we've got a strong overall team and that's neat to see too. I was gonna say we'll talk about a lot of that as we go through the year here, but Dempsey's certainly the focus of everybody because she's already broken all kinds of records here at Stevenson, but it is a chance for those other players to then rise to the occasion because the defense is so focused on the sum and you point out in Rowan it seemed you got that. Yeah, yeah. I think that we're showing that we're not a one-man show. We've got a strong contingency of 11 field players and some subs as well. Coming up on Tuesday you're back home against Goucher, then followed up on that. You are back home against St. Mary's. We talked in the preseason about taking advantage of the home games. You got a good stretch here. What are the keys to your first game against Goucher on Tuesday? Goucher's huge because just like I said to the team that people will forget the Washington loss if we win against Rowan. People will forget the win, row and win if we lose against Goucher and so we have to climb and we have to play even better than we did with Rowan at Goucher. We have a light that's on the fritz so please forgive the blinking. I might have to fix that in a minute and because of the edit you probably can tell we already lost our light so we'll pick up a word we're starting talking about Goucher and the importance of that game and how do you get the team almost refocused? I mean you had the game with Washington where it wasn't not a good win. You got to get them focused for Rowan. Now you get a huge win with Rowan and you know you don't want to rest on your laurels so you you know fall flat against Goucher. How does that coaching technique work? It's a mental game at this point stage. Our team understands that in order for us to reach our goals we have to play every single game at the A level and we're not we're not good enough yet to play play down and still secure wins. We have to play hard every game. They know that so that's the approach going in. And then Saturday you face off against former CAC opponent St. Mary's again at home as well. Nice bit of a break there between a Tuesday and a Saturday game but at this point it's all about keeping the momentum going too I assume. Yeah momentum is huge we've got to come out we've got to play really well against Goucher and we've got a secure win and we've to carry that into into St. Mary's. We have a little bit of a break with practice so that'll be beneficial for us as well. And hopefully the weather cooperates for you in all facets though it's cooler so that's certainly nicer. Before we let you go you kind of hinted at what you've been talking to the team. What is the overall message for this week. For our team yeah it's focus it is it's mental focus it's the fact that we know what we can do. Can we continue to do it elevated at that level and learn and grow every single game. Very good well congratulations on the three-on-one start I know that's exact you know maybe exactly what you drew up. I didn't want to assume. So three-on-one start with a big win over Rowan here at Mustang Stadium again team back in action on Tuesday against Goucher and St. Mary's that following Saturday those two games both seven o'clock start times barring weather delays here at Mustang Stadium she's coach Laurel Martin for Field Hockey I'm Dave McHugh we'll keep in touch with the team throughout the year on Go Mustang Sports.