The ConVal field hockey team projects to be a defensive-minded squad anchored from front to back with three strong senior captains. However, the Cougars have yet to see just how much they're capable of, as they're now 0-3 after a trio of games played with a roster depleted by illness. 

ConVal head coach Kelly Shirk said her team looked promising in preseason, but once school began, a wave of sickness hit her girls, and they still haven't had a chance to play with their full roster. 

"That's what's making it really hard," Shirk said after Tuesday's 7-0 loss to visiting Hanover. "People are playing in some different positions that we haven't fully practiced, because we didn't know that they would need to be there. Some people have started rising to the occasion, and we're getting there, but it's been tough when we don't have everybody."

The compromised positioning was in evidence Tuesday, as the Cougars played the majority of the game in their defensive end and the Bears bombarded senior goalkeeper Ronia Foecking with shots. Foecking, ConVal's single-season saves leader, held her own, but there was only so much the co-captain could do. 

"The scores don't necessarily reflect it," Shirk said, "but she's making 30 saves a game. She's crushing it back there. She is just the rock back there trying to help support the defense and in there as the last line of defense. She's really stepped up to be a good leader for everybody on the field and trying to keep everybody in it and having fun and doing the right things."

Out in front of Foecking is senior co-captain Elsa Hubbard-Lemay, ConVal's defensive anchor who motors tirelessly and hits with power. 

"She just comes out of nowhere on defense and is really aggressive, which is really helpful," Shirk said. "She makes some great stops in there."

Senior co-captain Bella Messa is on the front line of the midfield, slowing down opposition attacks and facilitating the Cougar offense. 

"Bella's helping out in the midfield trying to connect the defense to the forwards," Shirk said. 

When ConVal's on the attack, Messa has a couple weapons at her disposal in forwards Makayla Lamothe, Arianna Hamlin and Kaelyn Samuelson, and if the Cougars are going to get into the win column this season, that group will need to continue putting the pressure on opposing defenses and get the ball into the net. 

"Speed of play is a big thing," Shirk said, "and working as a unit so that we can work together up field. We can do it. They have the skills; it's just doing it at game speed full time."

Thus far this fall, ConVal has yet to score a goal and has been outscored by opponents 21-0. The Cougars are coming off a two-win season and haven't won more than four games in a season since their brief stint down in Division III back in 2018. Despite all that, Shirk said she thinks her girls can turn it around. 

"I hope so," Shirk said. "They work really hard in practice, so I think they can. It's tough to have that kind of score, but I think that they can do it and that they can stay up and stay positive."

ConVal is at Kennett Friday, Kingswood Monday and then returns home for a night game under the lights on Stadium Field Wednesday.