On Thursday Sept. 27 the Hawks showcased their entire roster for the Saints who controlled most of the game. The Hawks defence solidified by the goalkeeping of Danaya MacDuff who had a goal-saving diving stop held the home side in the game. Much of the second half the Saints kept the pressure on and held possession of the ball.

Smith wasn’t concerned by the loss and said success on the field isn’t only measured by the score.
“Success for some of these girls is just being in the sport. So for some of these girls they’ve never played field hockey before so for them to come out … just to be in the game is a success. The season is long so the way it is set up it doesn’t really matter the overall [record] because everybody makes it to Kawartha [playoffs]” he said. “Kawartha is the time. Right now I play everybody. I want to make sure everybody gets exposed to it and love it.”

The Hawks who are 0-2 now will play seven more regular season games (as of Friday Sept. 28). The playoffs will start with the Kawartha championship on Tuesday Oct. 16. A week later the COSSA (Central Ontario Secondary School Athletics) championship is on Tuesday Oct. 23.
The team has 30 players. There were no cuts.

Getting everyone out on the field enabled him to try a variety of combinations.
He calls his players a “talented bunch.”
This year the program is fielding just one team instead of two squads.
The coaching staff includes HHSS EA Ginny Marsden and teacher Vanessa Prentice who commutes from Bancroft.
Smith said the coaching staff have liked what they have seen in the fairly young team with mainly Grade 9s and 10s on the roster.
“They are improving daily and we just love the potential that we have” he said.

The team’s next home game is this Thursday Oct. 4. Game start is at 3 p.m.