By Kordell Booth

McCaskey Girls Field Hockey has kicked up a storm in Tornado Alley with one of their best seasons in school history, making it to the playoffs for the first time in 53 years. The Red Tornado field hockey team posted a seven and eight record in season, all the hype has been around their six and two league record which included wins over Lancaster Mennonite, Lancaster Catholic, and Lebanon. This has generated incredible excitement for the Red Tornadoes as fans of the field hockey team have been waiting for this season for a long time—they haven’t made the L.L. League Playoff since 1971. Unfortunately, their season ended in a tough loss to Warwick who is the number one field hockey team in the state in the first round of the L.L League playoffs. But there is a lot of hope for next year’s team even though there are a lot of graduating seniors.

This season McCaskey had almost an entirely senior-led team. The captains Brianna Tran and Lotte Frey are just two of the seniors that hold this team together. But there are other players that make this season successful including Alayah Gartman, CeCe Good, Cindey Reyes, Aleximar Ruiz, Kaniyah McDowell, Geraldine Torres and Aiyanna Raeford. All of these Seniors have been either starting or have played an important role on the varsity team since freshman year. This includes Cindey Reyes who has started on varsity since freshman year and has been a pivotal part of the Red Tornado defense. However, many Red Tornado Field Hockey fans have some worries for next year especially with a very senior heavy roster. 

Coach Groff understands that concern. When I had the opportunity to interview her about the topic losing so many seniors, here’s what she told me: “This season I saw a lot of my juniors step up and step out on the field and be leaders and I’m really excited to see my freshman grow.I’m excited to rebuild this program.”  Coach Groff knows she is not alone in this, she has two great assistant coaches who are both McCaskey graduates and both played McCaskey field hockey. They have been super important to the team this season, and they are already coming up with ideas on how they can grow better for next year. 

Speaking of next season, the field hockey team will have some returning players for next season, including  three starters who will lead the way for this team next season: Makyala Russel, Zuri Jackson, and Dymazia Lavender-Grey. All three of these juniors were very important to this team this year and Dymazia led the team with seven goals this season and Makyala was very important on the defensive side of the ball, plus Zuri was very important when this team needed a spark on offense she always stepped up to take on anyone who tried to get in her way. 

Additionally,  the Red Tornadoes had two freshman who found a decent amount of playing time this season, including Jazzy Torres who made her first ever start against Warwick in the playoffs this year, and Alana McAuthur who looks poised to be the starting goalie next year with both senior goalies Aiyanna Raeford and Cindy Reyes graduating. 

There’s a lot to like about next year’s team. But they are looking for players to try out for next season’s team. Coach Groff will be  recruiting new players so the team can round out its roster and  they can head right back to the playoffs. Without a doubt Coach Groff believes she will  be able to build off this season’s success next year, and she’s excited to see what will happen. The future looks bright for McCaskey field hockey.