The Gloucester Dukes have a field hockey team that has taken the area by storm with a remarkable undefeated season. How do they do it?
The Dukes’ goalie, Sarah Beamer, stresses it comes down to discipline.
“We practice every single day of the week, and we have been practicing since the beginning of August,” says Beamer.
But in the semi-finals against Kellam High School, things initially didn't look good for them.
“Every other game, we know we were going to win it because we have been so pumped and into it. This game, in the beginning, we were kind of scared because everybody lost heart and in the second half, they brought it back,” says Beamer.
That come-from-behind victory was a stunner. The Dukes had nothing on the board and were down by three points.
“Our team, they never give up. Even the past two games, we come back from being scored on 1st, so us coming back from three is like amazing for this team,” says Courtnie Greene.
Now they turn their attention to the state tournament, which has meant practice, practice, and more practice.
“We have worked so hard whether it’s staying in shape, running to stick skills and it’s really because we have a good bond between each other and we just love each other and we know like our goal is to go to states and we made it,” says Kayla Sadler.
Besides their dedicated practices, the other key ingredient, these players also see each other as more than just teammates.
“Everybody's got to support themselves. This is a really close team. We shout 'Ohana' at the end of every game and that means family, so we are a family and we will try our best to get there,” says Beamer.
