The crisp air blows across the turf. The crowd watches as junior Skylar Parks catches the ball in her stick and dashes for the net. She whips her arms back and launches the ball into the net. A smile spreads across her face and her team cheers. Another point is added to the “home” side of the scoreboard.

“For our first game, we didn’t expect to win,” Parks said. “We caught Oxford on their heels because they did expect to win. We exploited their weaknesses and just found the holes in their strategy.”

The combined Fenton/Linden varsity brought home its first win against Oxford with a score of 10-2. This was the team’s first game of the season.

“The hardest part of our first game was playing together well as a team,”captain Madeline Albrecht. “We spent a lot of time conditioning to get ready for the game. Then we worked on playing offense and defense for practice.”

Junior Ellie Reuschlein and senior Maddy Withers lead the pack with four  goals each; sophomore Kelly Kemp followed close behind with three goals.

“We scrimmage every practice,” Parks said. “It’s for the sake of getting used to game scenarios. We do a lot of ground ball work, and we do a lot of workouts so we can be ready to play hard. I love the sport and I love my team, and I don’t care if we’re running sprints or playing a game, I’m loving every second of it.”

The team began practicing in late March, and has been together since.

“As a team, we have so many valuable players on our team,” Reuschlein said. “The goal was to get everyone playing together and working together. I think our first game went really well, especially since we were just getting into the groove of the game.”
The girls next game will be away at Grand Blanc high school on April 15 at 5:30 p.m.