New coach inherits eight veterans, 10 seniors
MORGAN HILL — Jessica Naranjo can recall plenty of lopsided defeats from her playing days at Sobrato High School, but she mostly remembers her teammates.
Together, they shared a family-like bond that made being part of SHS field hockey special.
“It’s hard to have that when there’s so many girls on the team,” Naranjo said. “The fact we were able to stay so close is pretty impressive looking back.”
Now the coach of the Bulldogs, Naranjo wants her players to maintain the same teamwide connection. Doing so would knock down one of few pillars standing between them and their first winning season.
Aside from a new coach, Sobrato’s roster is nearly intact from 2009, complete with 10 seniors and eight varsity veterans.
The heavy hitters include first-team all-leaguers Katie Merten and Dawn Watts, who are like bookends at forward and defender, respectively. The team leader in goals a year ago, Merten collected four tallies during a 6-0 win over University last October.
She should receive plenty of support up top from Andrea Salem and Rachel Bakin again this fall.
“We pass really well; we’ve been playing together for four years,” said Salem, who scored five goals in 2009, including a hat trick. “We want to score even more this year. Winning more games is important, and we’ll need more goals to do that.”
The Bulldogs put in plenty of running this summer to improve their stamina and get adjusted to the new speed of the game.
High school field hockey recently implemented a rule that allows dribbling off stationary hits. The game is played that way at college and international levels.
“I’ve been telling them to mentally prepare themselves,” said Naranjo, a 2007 SHS alumna. “They have to run a lot now, but they’ll thank me when we get into a game situation.”
Salem said the new rule should benefit Sobrato’s offense.
“Anything that makes the game more intense is going to help us,” she said.
Defensively, the Bulldogs’ biggest area for improvement is communication. Their stickwork and clears have looked sharp during fall training camp, and their backline has worked well with the new goalkeepers (senior Diamond Jankela has taken the most reps in the cage).
“Passing and talking and knowing where each other is is important. Hitting comes second,” said senior Katelyn Goyette, who heads the midfielding corps alongside 2009 Freshman of the Year Kate van Keulen. “We have to talk out there. We did a lot better last year when we did.”
Under former coach Niki Donaldson, who guided the program from its inception, Sobrato put together a promising, albeit frustrating, finish in 2009; frustrating because the team narrowly missed its goal of a .500-or-better season (Sobrato’s 6-8-1 overall and 6-6 league marks were still program bests).
The Bulldogs are tired of coming close. They hope to carry the team to new heights in 2010 while carrying each other.
Game 1 is next Friday against Live Oak.
“As long as we keep focus, work our hardest and keep bringing a family-type bond into games and practice,” Salem began, “there’s no way we shouldn’t be able to win more games than we lose.”
