It’s been an up and down season for this year’s Elizabethtown College field hockey team. With a season record of 4-3, the team is confident about continuing their current season.

The season commenced with a 2-1 loss to Franklin & Marshall College, ranked seventh in the NCAA Division III standings, followed by a 7-4 loss to Eastern University. Despite two tough losses, the team came back strong, beating Catholic University 3-2 and shutting out Delaware Valley 5-0. After beating Muhlenberg College at home, 2-1, for their third win in a row, the team was feeling pretty positive.

“The season so far has been pretty good,” junior Kendra Hudson said. “We started off a little rocky, but we’ve come back.”

The team was riding high on a winning streak, until their loss against Salisbury University, ranked number three in the nation, on Saturday, Sept. 21. The team came out strong, scoring the first point of the game. The first half ended with a score of 1-1.

In the second half, Salisbury came out blazing, scoring four unanswered points, leaving the final score 5-1.

“We came out so strong,” junior Marissa Sneeringer said. “We had a strong first half, but we got down in the second half and couldn’t come back from it.”

Junior Kaylee Werner also expressed her disappointment with the final score of the game. “It was frustrating. We definitely had the ability to beat them. Things just didn’t go our way.”

With a previous season record of 14-6, the Blue Jays are making sure that this season is a strong one. They are working on team unity and other skills. “We’re working together and getting gradually better,” Werner said.

Despite the tough start, the team is feeling strong. They have bonded together as a team, worked hard and now it’s just a matter of execution during the games. “We started out with a lot of tough games,” Sneeringer said. “But now we’re able to mesh better as a team.”

Their dedication to each other and the game has made the Jays a very close-knit team. On and off the field, they work together and support each other, despite the loss of some good players last season.

“We’re like a family,” Werner said. “If someone from the other team is messing with one of us, we’ll all go after them. It really is exactly like a family.”

Due to the strength of the team, both in skill and spirit, the players are confident about the rest of the season. “I think we’re playing well, but I think we could play better,” said Hudson.

“We can’t really know how the rest of the season is going to go,” Werner added. “But I think it’s going to go really well.”

Because this is the team’s last year in the conference, the team is also hoping to win a MAC championship. “We’ve made it to the championships before, and I think we have the same chances this year.  I believe we could make it there,” Werner said.

The team added another win to their record on Tuesday, Sept. 24 against York College. The final score was 6-1.

Overall, the team is looking forward to the rest of the season. Even though the record is even, the team has the potential to be successful this season.

“I think we haven’t played our best game yet,” Hudson said. “They better look out for when we do.”