A young McMaster field hockey team begins the season and looks to grow new players on the roster

On Sept. 16, the McMaster University women’s field hockey team began their season. Their first game of their campaign saw them face up against the McGill University Martlets, in which the team secured a dominant 3-1 win. 

The team’s second game of the season took place on Sept. 17, as the Marauders took on the York University Lions and lost out with a score of 0-4. 

Both games had major takeaways for the Marauders to reflect on as they embark on their ten-game regular season. The most important lesson that the young team has learned so far is that they just need time to settle in. 

“I think we have very good individual skill, but [because] we have such a young team, we haven’t ever played together before. . .I think the biggest thing is playing together and running through our systems. Most of our practices are walkthroughs because we all come from different teams and backgrounds,” said first-year Darcie Brohman. 

On their 22 person roster, there are 10 first-year and six second-year players. With a majority of the team’s athletes just entering their rookie or sophomore season, it is no surprise that it may take time for the team to reach their full potential. 

“We’re a very young team. We haven’t been a U Sports team for very long and we have a lot of rookies. So, age-wise we have a lot of younger players, but I think we haven’t played a lot together because of that. . .Every time we play we get more and more and we become more competitive and better than we were the last time,” said Brohman. 

Despite their inexperience it seems as though the first-year players, specifically Brohman, have the team in good hands. Her performance against McGill, her university game where she scored and gave two assists, also earned her Athlete of the Week on Sept. 18, as . 

Brohman attributed her success to the entire Marauders team and believes that it is only up from here for the squad; however, contributing to every goal in their first win is quite a feat. 

"I think it's hard to get Athlete of the Week because it's never really one person. People have been congratulating me and I’m very thankful for that, but there's the whole team behind me,” said Brohman.