Varsity field hockey crushed by Watkins Mill

The field hockey team was crushed by Watkins Mill High School, 4-1. Although the Blair coach predicted a "totally winnable game," the Blazers were consistently disorganized and sloppy in their play.

The beginning of the game was dominated by Blair, but as soon as Watkins Mill rebounded and scored on them, the Blazers could not regain their morale, not an unusual flaw for the team, according to senior Ashley Moyer. "Whenever we get a lead taken away from us we take it personally and lose motivation," she said.

Their loss of confidence resulted in four consecutive goals scored by Watkins Mill, dropping Blair's already low record to 2-5.

As usual, the Blazers were unable to capitalize off of aggressive offensive plays. Many scoring opportunities went unfulfilled, despite intense efforts by junior Abby Celotto, as well as by senior Juliana Stevenson who scored Blair's single goal of seven attempts.

Many players attributed their ineptitude against their opponents to the fact that Watkins Mill was bunching a lot on one side of the field and the Blair offense was not using that to their advantage and crossing the ball. If they had done more crossing, the Blazers may have stood a better chance at scoring, said senior Alissa Munoz. "We had so many good opportunities when the ball was crossed," she said.

Much of the confusion and disorganization came from Blair's defenders, who were not playing in position, according to junior Carly Vieira. "Offense wasn't getting their sticks on the ball and defense was not playing on the diagonal," she said.

Sophomore goalie Anna Benfield was issued a green card in the second half for a high ball which hit her teammate, junior Jessie Procter, in the head. Procter sat out the rest of the game but was not severely injured.

The team was displeased with almost every aspect of their game. Junior Amy Nguyen spoke for many of the girls when she said that the Blazers have never played so badly. "[This game was] our worst game ever," she said.