Soccer

With the successful field hockey season over, I will now move on to the girl's soccer season. Having lost 11 seniors last year there is a completely new varsity team this year with only 6 returning players. This may seem daunting, but the team is definitely up for the challenge and is ready to have a fantastic season. Last Tuesday during Thanksgiving break, the Lady Barons played in a scrimmage against Corona Del Mar HS. The team was missing a few key returning players, but were determined to win despite this setback. They fought hard in the freezing, cloudy weather, but unfortunately Corona Del Mar came out on top with a final score of 3 to 2. The two FV goals were scored by new varsity junior Jessica Parker. The JV team had better luck against CDM and came out with a win. The preseason for girl's soccer does not officially start until Dec. 4.

FV vs Harvard Westlake 11/3/08 PLAY-OFFS

FV field hockey played against Harvard Westlake at Harvard's home field last night for Play-offs. For the first game of play-offs only the winner moves on, but after that then either team moves on. Harvard Westlake HS is a private school that has personal trainers for every sport and whose athletes are very talented. They even have Ashton Kutcher as a football coach which shows how high end of a school it is. They've been to play-offs many times, whereas the FV field hockey team had never gone before this year. Despite all of this experience stacked against them, the Lady Barons were hungry for a victory. Unfortunately, the Harvard Westlake Ladies were not going to go down without a fight. In the first half, Harvard scored a goal, but the Barons answered back with a goal scored on a short corner by Ashley Woody. There was a lag in the middle of the game and the Barons ended up down by one. They were ready to continue to fight though and after a goal was almost scored by Jennifer Schultz they were fighting hard. Unfortunately, Harvard was just a better team and ended up scoring two more goals by the end of the game with a final score of four to one. There were many amazing saves by senior goalie Susie Toumanian as well as senior Jennifer Schultz on short corners. Due to the loss in the first round the Lady Barons won't move on, but it is great that they finally broke the curse and made it to play-offs and hopefully there will be many more opportunities for them in the future. Just as a side note, the graduating seniors are: Jennifer Schultz, Susie Toumanian, Erandi Morales, Megan Sudra, Nikki Son, and Priya Patel. We wish these Ladies luck on their future endeavors and goals. Congratulations on a great season ladies!!!!!!

FV vs. Edison 10/29/08

FV field hockey played against Edison HS last night at the Charger's home field. After losing by a last minute goal to Edison in the first round of league play, the Lady Barons came out ready to get revenge. They fought long and hard for 60 minutes and had many opportunities on goal, but couldn't seem to get one in. The Lady Barons controlled the game the whole time and when they went into sudden death overtime this trend continued. Unfortunately the game ended with no goals scored and a tie, but the Ladies are ready to get some goals today at the Marina game. The official league record is now four wins one tie and four losses and they are currently in third place.

FV vs Newport Harbor 10/23/08

FV field hockey played against Newport Harbor HS last night at Newport's home field. The Lady Barons knew that Newport is the second best team in the league and as such came mentally prepared to play a tough game. This strategy worked and was shown in the way that the Barons held them off the entire first half with a score of zero to zero at the end of it; however, the Newport team came out with a vengeance in the second half and scored a goal within a matter of moments. FV answered back a few moments later with a goal scored by Jackie O'Ferryl and were ready to fight. Unfortunately the Newport girls were not ready to give up and ended the game by scoring three more goals with a final score of four to one. The field hockey season's official record is now four wins and four losses with two more games to play.

FV vs HB 10/21/08

FV field Hockey played against Huntington Beach HS at our home field Tuesday night. The Lady Barons came out ready to fight but the heat soon began to slow them down. They tried to continue to push, but the HB Oilers were not ready to back down. They scored in total five goals against our Lady Barons who unfortunately slowed down toward the end letting three goals in within three minutes. The final score was five to zero. The Field Hockey team's record is now four wins and three losses for the season.

FV vs Westminster 10/17/08

FV Field Hockey played against Westminster HS Friday night at our home field. The last time that the Lady Barons played against them they came out thinking that they would defeat the Westminster Ladies without a fight and this underestimation nearly cost them the game; however, this time around the ladies learned from their experience and came out ready to fight. They scored three goals in the first half and and one goal in the second with a final score of four to zero. The goals were scored by Jackie O., Jackie Matthews, and Taylor Merickel with amazing saves in the back as usual by senior goalie Susie Toumanian. The Girls now have four wins and two losses this season.

FV vs Marina 10/14/08

Last night the FV Field Hockey team played Marina at our home field. The weather was hot and windy, but the Lady Barons came ready to play their game regardless of this fact. They started out with a lot of momentum and continued to push for the first fifteen minutes. Then the Ladies started to slow down a bit due to the fact that they were constantly running into the wind; however, after a goal was scored by Jennifer Schultz the game quickly picked up speed once again. After an encouraging speech from Coach Marr at half time, the second half began with the Ladies continuing their strong battle against the Marina Ladies. The second half however was not as strong as the first half because the weather was not in our Ladies favor. Due to numerous amazing saves by the goalie, Susie Toumanian, the team was able to keep their lead thus winning one to zero. Their record for season is now three wins and two losses.

FV vs Edison 10/9/08

FV Field Hockey played Edison High School at our home field last night. The Lady Barons came ready to crush their rival school, but unfortunately the Edison Chargers were thinking the same thing. The two teams fought hard, but unfortunately the Chargers got a goal during the middle of the first half. At half time, Coach Marr gave the girls a fierce talk and the Lady Barons began the second half determined to score. Unfortunately luck was not with the ladies yesterday and due to them not working together as a team they lost one to zero. During the next round of play the Barons are determined to get them back at Edison's field. The record for the season is now two wins and two losses.

FV vs Newport Harbor 10/7/08

FV played against Newport Harbor High School yesterday at our home field. The Newport Ladies are one of the best teams in the league to the game started with high nerves from the FV girls. These nerves ended up working in our advantage because the Lady Barons started out with a lot of heart and determination. These factors paid off because the players had the ball in Newport's circle for most of the first half and had two beautiful goals scored within the first fifteen minutes. The first was scored by Ashley Woody who hit it hard into the corner of the goal on a short corner and the second was hit into the circle by Jennifer Schultz on a free hit, stopped by Alyson, and then tapped in by Taylor Merickel. The second half the ladies continued working together and making amazing passes, but didn't score because they were concentrating on keeping their lead by playing defensively. The team's official record for the season is 2 wins and 1 loss.

FV vs Huntington Beach

Field Hockey played Huntington Beach High School at Huntington's home field. It started off rough with Huntington scoring two goals, but the Lady Barons got it together in the second half and stopped them from scoring more. This was greatly due to Susie Toumanian, the goalie, who made some amazing saves and shut down Huntington's offense. The final score was 2 to 0 Huntington which may seem bad, but it's a huge improvement from last year's score of 8 to 0 Huntington. The Field Hockey Girls now have won one game and lost one game in the official season.

FV vs Westminster

Fountain Valley played Westminster High School at Westminster's home field last week. The Lady Barons had a rough start because they went out feeling over-confident. The game picked up quickly though and the Barons fought hard. With five minutes remaining, Westminster scored a goal. After a time-out pep talk from Coach Mar the Lady Barons answered back with a goal scored by Jackie Matthews. The two teams then went into sudden death overtime in which the first team to score wins. Within a few minutes Ashley Woody hit the ball down field to Jennifer Schultz who then dribbled past the last defender and scored the game winning goal. The Field Hockey Ladies now have three wins in a row and one season win.

FV vs. Chaminade 9/25/08

Last night Field Hockey played Chaminade High School at Chaminade's home field. The game started at 6 PM which is unusual, but the two hour long bus ride that the girls had to take to get there helped them to get pumped for the game. Also adding to the excitement of the game was the fact that the girls happened to see Will Smith and Alfonso Ribeiro leaving their sons' football game that took place on the field that the girls played on afterward. With all of this excitement in the air the Lady Barons started from the first blow of the whistle to put everything that they had on the field. Within five minutes Jackie O. a sophomore on the team and a second year letterman scored a goal. The referee took the goal away by saying that a foot foul occurred; however, Jackie answered back by scoring again two minutes later. Throughout the rest of the half, Jackie scored another goal as well as Priya, a senior on the team, and Taylor Merickel, a sophomore. So at the end of the first half the score was 4 to 0 and it remained that way for the rest of the game thanks to the Baron's strong defense and amazing goalie Susie Toumanian. This is the second preseason win in a row that these ladies have had so their preseason record is two wins and three losses. The field hockey girls start league play next week against Westminster High School at Westminster's home field.

FV vs. Bonita 9/24/08

Last night the FVHS Field Hockey team played Bonita High School at Bonita's home field. Although the weather was staggeringly hot we came ready to play. When the game started we immediately started to apply pressure to their defense. Jennifer Schultz scored a goal within the first five minutes followed by Ashley Woody, who usually plays defense, scoring one about twenty minutes later. So at the half we were up by two and determined to win our first game of the season. When the second half began Bonita began to fight back with the desire to win. They managed to score a goal after a momentary break down, but Jackie Matthews answered back with a goal five minutes later. So at the end of the game the score was 3 to 1 Fountain Valley. Some other key players were goalie Susie Toumanian who made some amazing saves throughout the game and Taylor Merickel who played center mid and made some great passes. The JV team played immediately afterward and won 1 to 0.

The Truth of Field Hockey

If you happen to walk to or from the Valley Vista Parking Lot on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday between 2:30 and 4:30 p.m.., you may notice a stream of Lady Barons making their way around the track and field hockey field repeatedly. At first glance these girls may appear to be from soccer or cross country, judging by how much they are running, but in fact they are the school’s little known field hockey team, working hard as usual.
As the co-captain of the varsity team, I know how hard the team works. Unfortunately though, I often hear comments such as “Is field hockey even a sport?”, “I heard all the field hockey girls are lesbians.”, and even “Field hockey players aren’t real athletes.” And although there are many angry and inappropriate responses a player could make to these accusations, I always answer calmly and firmly.
First of all, field hockey is as much of a sport as any other the school offers. The girls work harder than anyone will ever know and the amount of determination and dedication each one has is staggering. Field hockey takes a tremendous amount of effort. It involves skill, agility, and a lot of practice ,and it is definitely not just a bunch of little girls running around in skirts chasing a ball.
To the other comment about field hockey players all being lesbians, the answer is a definite, “No!” This is a very degrading rumor and I don’t know how it was started. However, most of the girls have a boyfriend or are trying to snag that hot boy from their science class. But even if they didn’t though, why would it matter if one of the girls was a lesbian? We’re all athletes and the only thing that should matter is how we play.
The fact that people believe that we are not athletes is the most upsetting rumor that I’ve heard. As I said before, we work just as hard or even harder than many of the other athletes at the school. A typical practice includes starting out running anywhere from two to three miles, followed by an hour and a half of strenuous drills, and ending with a seemingly unbearable amount of sprints. If these activities could be done by just anyone then the entire school would be on the team! This is not meant to try to make it sound like field hockey is the only real sport in the world because I know by playing soccer as well that all of the teams at FVHS work hard; however, to me it seems that field hockey is the only one that has this bad reputation attached to it.And although we may not be the best team on campus, we try very hard each game. Our record may be a losing one at the moment, but I believe this year will be different. We have the talent and determination to make it to CIF finals if we will just believe in ourselves. Maybe then the rest of the world will take field hockey seriously