The New Trier Field Hockey season is coming to a close and the state championship contending Trevians (17-1-1) are primed for a deep playoff run.

Their only loss this season came against Lake Forest High School (LFHS), as they fell short by a score of 4-3. After trailing for most of the game, New Trier was able to notch an equalizer in the second half to tie the contest at 2-2.

Head Coach Stephanie Nykaza said, “We didn’t ‘mentally’ play well. We went into the game pretty nervous and it would have been a very different game if we were mentally focused and ready.”

The tie score at the end of regulation led to the enforcement of a new rule in Field Hockey, in which tie games are settled with one-on-one penalty strokes. Lake Forest scored the first penalty shot, but New Trier answered with a goal of their own. After Lake Forest tallied another penalty shot goal, the Scouts secured a victory by saving the Trevians’ next shot.

“We didn’t play as well as we would have liked,” said senior attacker Rachel Mirkin. “We went into overtime and shootouts with them, and if we played more composed like we usually do, we could have beaten them.”

They will play Lake Forest again on the 17th at home at New Trier Stadium.

“Hopefully next time we play them we end up with a ‘W,’” said senior defender Grace Hemmer.

New Trier has continued their trend of close games with tight results against two non-conference opponents. On Sept. 30 they played Lake Forest Academy (LFA) and tied 3-3. They rebounded against North Shore Country Day (NSCD) on Oct. 2, winning 2-1 after scoring the go-ahead goal in the last five minutes of regulation. In both games, the Trevians were able to recover from early deficits.

“It’s hard to come back in a field hockey game,” said Nykaza. “[Field hockey] is a very low-scoring game, and once you fall behind it’s hard to recover. In both the LFA and NSCD games we fell behind and it was very lucky that we were able to catch up.”

Hemmer said, “In the game against North Shore [Country Day], they scored early in the first half off of a lucky shot and we spent the rest of the game trying to catch up. In the last five minutes we had two awesome goals from Lindsay Hackett and Kitty Kenyon and we ended up walking away with a win.”

Their successful regular season so far has come on the heels of a stout defense. New Trier hasn’t allowed a goal in 12 of 17 games.
“The season has been going pretty well so far. We work well as a team and we have a lot of talented players,” said Mirkin.

With a combination of reliable defense and offensive talent, expectations are high for the playoffs. Postseason play begins on Oct. 20 and the Trevians hope to be seeded first for the tournament.

“I hope that we face [LFHS] in state, but so many games have been so close. Almost anything can happen in the postseason,” said Hemmer.
Hemmer and the Trevians will be looking for a different result from last year’s state championship, when the Scouts blanked New Trier 3-0.
With a team full of seniors, they have the experience to do so.

“The state championship game will be at New Trier this year, but to get there we have to win more big games,” said Nykaza. “I would like to make it to the ‘final four,’ and I think that we can get there.”