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The field hockey team walks in unity. “I genuinely love field hockey. This sport and its community has given me so much. I’m just hoping to give back a little,” said Raynes

It was too late.  

In the midst of sweaty hugs and high fives, the varsity girl’s field hockey team didn’t realize their opponent was barreling toward their goal.

“We were so discombobulated,” midfielder Grace Essalih said. “It was crushing.”

The No. 1 field hockey team in the nation, The Hill School, faced off against the former No. 2 team, The Kinkaid School, in their first match of the prestigious 2024 MAX Field Hockey High School Invitational.

“We knew this was going to be a great game,” University of Virginia commit Caroline Raynes said. “We had to get into the game really defensively.”

But defense fell apart at the end of the first quarter. 

After Hill midfielder earned a foul, the Falcons seized the ball and through a series of passes, hit the ball to senior forward Ella Ou, who was waiting at the goal. 

The Falcons scored their first goal 20 minutes into the game–or so it seemed.

“The ref said that the ball got kicked in apparently,” field hockey coach Coach Whitney Chappell said. “All the girls were celebrating on the sidelines when it happened, and we didn’t get into position fast enough.”

While Kinkaid scrambled to get back onto the field, Hill’s players immediately took up the ball and sped across the field, scoring their first goal in less than 10 seconds after Kinkaid’s foul goal.

“We’re obviously taught, ‘Don’t talk back to the ref,’” Essalih said. “But at that moment, we’re all just standing there as Hill scores, and I wanted to go up to the ref and ask, ‘How much are they paying you?’”

However, while the news of the foul was temporarily paralyzing, the mistake didn’t keep the Falcons down for long. 

“We came back really strong in the second half of the game and kept Hill’s scores down as low as possible,” Essalih said.

The final score of the match was 0-2. 

Kinkaid may have lost the match, but Raynes found a silver lining: she got to play against a friend on Hill.

“One of Hill’s team members is going to be my future teammate at the University of Virginia,” Raynes said. “I love playing games like the one with Hill because I get to meet the sweetest and funniest girls whom I’ve made the most valuable friendships with.” 

Essalih said a lot of her teammates became friends with players on high ranking teams through training camps and clubs. 

According to Coach Chappell, field hockey’s open-armed environment is uncommon with other sports. 

“I wasn’t a field hockey coach when I came to Kinkaid,” Coach Chappell said. “Field hockey was something I fell in love with because the girls were so close, and I wanted to continue to capture that closeness.”

Coach Chappell worked to build Kinkaid’s teamwork by instructing girls to release and pass the ball rather than dribbling straight down the field. 

Raynes said that it’s these friendships, on and off the team, that have helped support her through the struggles and losses throughout her field hockey career.

“I make a lot of sacrifices. I have to get up early. I have to go to the gym. I have to run. I have to go to physical therapy for an away tournament. Most people don’t get why I do that,” Raynes explained. “But for me, I genuinely love field hockey. This sport and its community has given me so much. I’m just hoping to give back a little.”