Serious about field hockey
College commits boost New Canaan, which opens season with seven straight wins
Mary Clare Snediker was talking about the players on her New Canaan field hockey team Monday and the names of their college destinations kept coming.
With four players already committed, and possibly more to come, one thing is clear: These Rams are serious about field hockey.
“We have a lot of players who are serious about the sport and want to continue playing at the next level,” said Snediker, now in her third year as New Canaan’s coach. “That just raises the level for everyone else, too. It gives the younger players something to aspire to, and they see these role models right in front of them.”
That kind of dedication is invaluable for a team which is young but talented. The Rams are 7-0, have outscored opponents 45-1, and have earned the No. 2 ranking in the latest Connecticut coaches poll.
It’s a continuation of last year’s success, when the Rams were 8-1-1-0 and defeated rival Darien in two of three meetings. New Canaan earned the No. 1 seed in the FCIAC West playoffs, but had to withdraw as the team was in quarantine during the postseason.
“The COVID year just made everyone, coaches and players alike, appreciate the ability to be out there, playing the sport we love with our best friends, and not taking anything for granted,” Snediker said. “Our motto last year was play every game like it could be your last. That’s still ingrained in them to appreciate the time we have on the field and make the most of it.”
New Canaan’s college commits include three seniors in goalie Grace Gilman (Lehigh), forward Molly Mitchell (Colby) and midfielder Zoey Bennett ( Johns Hopkins).
Junior midfielder Polly Parsons-Hills has committed to Cornell, following in the footsteps of her mom, Cari Hills, who was the Big Red field hockey team’s first All-American. Hills will be inducted into the Connecticut Field Hockey
Hall of Fame in November.
“For a lot us, our No. 1 sport is field hockey and we do enjoy it,” Mitchell said. “That’s a huge part of having the strong team that we have this year.”
“The older players with more experience are really helping the new players on the team,” Bennett said. “Every practice you have those really strong players helping out everyone on the team and everyone is helping each other.”
The Rams had their two biggest wins of the season thus far last week, both via shutout.
New Canaan broke open a close game with Trumbull
(4-1-2-0) by scoring two goals in the fourth quarter to win 3-0 last Thursday. Junior Shawna Ferraro scored twice and Mitchell scored once, while the defense did not allow a shot on the cage.
On Saturday, the Rams took on perennial FCIAC contender Greenwich (3-10-1) and won 1-0 on a goal by Parsons-Hills. Gilman made four saves for the shutout.
“It was a whole team effort from everybody on the field hustling and everybody on the sidelines cheering,” Bennett said of the win over Greenwich. “Everyone contributed to that win.”
“It was really difficult,” Mitchell said. “We knew it was going to be a hard team
going into it and luckily with Polly Parsons on that reverse tip, it was amazing. We had so much energy on the sideline which was a big part of that win.”
Gilman, a returning starter, has been a “brick wall” at goalie, Snediker said.
Two senior co-captains, Kiera Cooney and Rachel Gilio, give the Rams two veterans on defense.
“They’ve been playing back there together for three years now and they have a sixth sense of where each other is going to be,” Snediker said.
Parsons-Hills, Bennett and Ferraro are the leaders in the midfield, with Mitchell and sophomore Izzy Schuh starring on the forward line.
The road ahead isn’t easy.
New Canaan hosts Wilton on Friday, and will finish the season with games against Ridgefield, Norwalk, Darien and Staples in the final two weeks of the regular season.
Those games will help determine the Rams’ tournament seeding, and Snediker feels that having those opponents before the playoffs could be a boost.
“There's always the question of do you want to have your tough games right at the beginning or wait until the end,” Snediker said. “I think it’s nice having them at the end because we have all season to practice and build up to them.”