Although Hopedale did not know if they were going to be allowed to play field hockey this fall dur to Covid 19, the Blue Raiders did know they had a first-year coach ready to take control of the reigns. Shelley Hynes, who played field hockey, basketball and softball for Leominster High School was named the head coach. 

“I was looking for something like this (coaching), so in the mean time I took some referee classes to at least get involved,” the first-year coach said. “Then I found the Hopedale coaching job posted and it would allow me to keep my fulltime position while doing this.”

According to the new coach, she also played soccer and softball in college and has run numerous marathons and triathlons. Given her background she assumed (Hopedale AD) Stephanie Ridolfi knew that she’d be a competitive coach that wouldn’t give up.

 

At the time of this writing, Hopedale schools were set to open Wednesday September 16 and practices would begin two days later on Friday. However, at this time Hynes and the Blue Raiders don’t know when games are actually going to start; the coach believes probably sometime during the first week of October, but they’ll have to wait for the official word.  It looks as though Hynes will have about two weeks to practice with the underclassmen to prepare them for the season opener once things open up.

Coming into the season Hopedale lost six returners from last year’s Division 2 State runner-up team. Hopedale had captured the Central Division 2 championship after going 13-2-3 in the regular season but fell to Dover-Sherborn 4-1 in the State Final.

Although losing a half dozen key components from last year’s squad, Hynes still has seven girls returning, including three seniors. The seniors (Carly Smith, Gianna DeRienzo and Maeve Griffin) were all named by their peers at the conclusion of last year’s season to be this year’s captains.

“The Captains have been great helping me along and are super excited about having a season when they thought that there would be none for the longest time,” Hynes said. “They don’t care what rules they have to play by as long as they get to play.”  (In the past field hockey had been 11 girls on each side, this fall the teams will go 7 against 7.) 

In addition to the three senior captains Hynes will have Caroline Hurley (junior defender), Nora Hodgens (junior forward / midfielder), Sophia Garzoli (junior midfielder and defender) and Emma Gosselin (freshman forward) returning to play for the Blue Raiders. Outside of the seven returners the first-year coach will have a lot of figuring out as to who’s going to play where in this 7-vs-7 season.

“Being that it’s a different type of season I will be assessing their skills over the first few weeks,” she said. “I will try to give the girls more consistent playing time while also trying them out at different positions.”

One of the six seniors lost from last year’s runner-up team to graduation was the team’s goalie so Hopedale will be going with freshman Lizzie Brytowski in net.

“Not having seen her yet I ‘ve been told by last year’s JV coach that Lizzie is a very hard working individual that loves the sport and her position and brigs a positive attitude to the game,” Hynes said. “She’s here for another four years so we will build our team around her and I believe that we will be strong and very competitive in front of her this year.”

As the dates get closer and closer to when the girls will report for the beginning of the season, which will be unlike any they’ve ever encountered before, Hynes will be preparing so they can get rolling right away.

“My goal this year is to develop the girls’ skills while being as competitive as we can be,” the Coach said. “Although we will be playing 7-vs-7 it will still be essentially the same. Having smaller numbers on the field the girls will have to cover more ground and there will not be too many breaks, however if we do have a weakness it will really stick out this year.”

Much like other Phase I fall sports Hynes and the Hopedale field hockey players are anxiously awaiting the beginning of the season; a season they feel should be just as successful as last years was, if not better.