Despite their early offensive explosion, new coach Corey Cooper ’08 has made it clear that the foundation for this year’s girls varsity hockey team will begin with defense.
“We will need to be defensively accountable, to have a defense-first mindset,” said Cooper. “The best offense is a good defense.”
And yet the early results for the Bearcats (3-0) have shown them to be a team with weapons, winning their first games by scores of 3-1 over NMH, 5-2 over Berkshire, and 7-0 over Millbrook. Last year, the team scored three or more goals only four times all season.
Cooper, who came from Millbrook to take over the program from her father John Cooper, emphasized that while the three wins are encouraging, the team still has myriad opportunities for growth. “We’ve started well in terms of getting pucks to the net, but our defensive accountability has a long, long way to go,” she said.
Two keys to the team’s ability to be successful on both ends of the ice, said Cooper, are humility and selflessness. This year coaches are encouraging players to stay humble through challenging practices, but Cooper added that she wants her team to not be afraid of failure.
“If you’re going to make a mistake, you need to make it all the way without hesitating,” she said. “It shows you’re trying to do everything you can for the group.”
Cooper credited this year’s group of returning seniors – Gillian Duquette ’19, Abby Hillebrecht ’19, Jillian Mazzocca ’19, Hyla Mosher ’19, Maddie Rego ’19, Caitlin Reilly ’19, and Zoe Wilson ’19 – for providing collective team leadership.
Having an eclectic group with a variety of hockey experiences has signaled to the rest of the team, particularly the new and younger players, that every member of the team can make important contributions, said Cooper.
She was also effusive in her praise for her assistant coaches. “The team and I are quite lucky, and we know it, to have 65+ years of coaching, insight, and dedication in Robin Chandler and my dad,” said Cooper.
The team will now head into the annual PKO tournament with a full head of steam, but will face tough tests with games against Kent, Andover, and Choate before the holiday break.
