By David Fierro
Unfinished business.
That’s the Greenwich High School field hockey team’s slogan for the 2024 season as Sofia Klingbeil, one of the captains, noted following the Cardinals’ season-opening game against Fairfield Warde on Tuesday.
“Our slogan for the year is unfinished business,” Klingbeil said. “We are trying to be a 60-minute team and as always, we are going to try to get to the state championship and the FCIAC championship.
Greenwich was certainly a 60-minute team in its season-opener against FCIAC foe Fairfield Warde Tuesday afternoon at Cardinal Stadium. Scoring three first quarter goals and tallying four times in the opening half, the Cardinals began its 2024 season with a dominant 8-0 victory over Fairfield Warde.
“We have a good group of returners and a really solid group of new girls,” Greenwich head coach Megan Wax said. “We have been working a lot on our decision making and ball movement. I thought today we did an excellent job of that, especially right out of the gate.”
The Cardinals are coming off a successful 2023 campaign, one that saw them register a record of 12-5-0-2, advance to the FCIAC Tournament semifinals and the CIAC Class L Tournament semifinals. Greenwich defeated Wilton, 7-0, in the FCIAC quarterfinals, before being edged by top-seeded Darien, 3-2, in the semifinals in a game GHS led by one goal with less than four minutes remaining. In last season’s Class LL state tournament quarterfinals, Greenwich topped Newtown, 3-0, in the first round, then played well in a tough 2-1 loss to Staples in the quarterfinal-round.
Kate Donnellan, Klingbeil, Isabel Pol and Stella Thibeault are the Cardinals’ 2024 senior captains.
“I’m really excited to be a captain, I’ve been working with these girls for almost four years now and every year we just fell short, because we have always been a second half team,” said Donnellan, a forward, who earned FCIAC All-West Team honors for the 2023 season. “Today, we came out with high energy and I’m excited to keep that going into our next game. We want to be a 60-minute team and come out and score quickly, so that we can work on what we need to in the second half and keep it going throughout the whole game.”
In Tuesday’s triumph against Fairfield Warde, which was the season-opener for both squads, Greenwich received goals from six different players. Thibeault and Donnellan each tallied twice, while Clara Ojea Quintana, Julia Lattuada and Klingbeil added one goal apiece in the winning effort.
“In the past couple of weeks and in the summer, all of our training and hard work paid off and we proved that in the game,” said Thibeault, a 2023 All-FCIAC First Team selection. “A lot of people scored and I think we really showed our talent.”
Caroline Babb, Liv Caminiti, Kelly Janssen and Aly Janssen served as Greenwich senior captains last season. Kelly Janssen was a First Team All-FCIAC goalie and is continuing her field hockey career at Hamilton College. Aly Janssen is playing field hockey at Trinity College and Babb and Caminiti received All-FCIAC Honorable Mention recognition. Hanna Klingbeil (All-FCIAC Honorable Mention selection) and Bernie Thompson were among some of the graduates from last season’s successful squad.
“That was a great group that graduated,” Wax noted. “Now, everybody is really excited about the talent that we have and our potential. We’re taking it day-by-day, acclimating the older players with the freshmen.”
Donnellan, Thibeault and Ojea Quintana should provide plenty of goals at the forward position for the Cardinals. Among some of the returning midfielders are Lattuada, a 2023 All-FCIAC First Team honoree, Klingbeil, Emilia Arroyo and Carlota Lopez.
Pol, Alexia Gilroy and Lexi Carino are among the athletes that will also aid the Cardinals on defense. The defense certainly excelled in the season-opening triumph against Fairfield Warde.
“Something that usually takes us a while to do well is our transfers, but today the defense did a really good job transferring job from the right side to the left side and from the left side to the right side, so that’s something to be proud of,” Pol said of the team’s defensive effort versus Fairfield Warde. “We are a very good attacking team, but it’s also important for our midfielders and forwards to drop back and become good defensive players. We already are, but even more.”
Against Fairfield Warde, Thibeault started the scoring, tallying off an assist from Ojea Quintana with 13:28 remaining in the first quarter. Donnellan’s unassisted goal gave Greenwich a 2-0 lead on Warde at the 7:53 mark of the opening quarter.
Ojea Quintana tallied just 33 seconds after Donnellan scored making it 3-0. Donnellan added another goal in the second quarter, giving GHS a 4-0 halftime advantage. Klingbeil, Thibeault and Ava Cocozza each posted second-half goals for the victors.
“We had great in-and-out passes up the side with a lot of cutting up the baseline,” Donnellan pointed out. “We are doing a very good job at getting quick goals and getting on the board quickly.”
“Honestly, we’ve been working really hard throughout the preseason and in practices – small things in drills, like communication – those small details really matter and I think we executed them today,” Klingbeil noted. “On a lot of our corners, we filled in the post, that stroke and so it’s just filling in the lanes.”
Niene Boezen, Thibeault and Giselle DiPietro had three interceptions against Fairfield Warde as did Donnellan. Quintana posted three interceptions, while Pol, Sophia DiPietro, Gilroy, Lopez, Lattuada and Anne Boezen had two apiece.
Greenwich has two first-season varsity goalies, a freshman and a sophomore and they both performed well against Warde.
“The goalies really showcased how much they can work,” Klingbeil said. “We have a freshman goalie and we have a sophomore goalie, so we have so much respect for them to go on the field at such a young age and go up against girls we are seniors and juniors.”
Said Pol: “The defense looks really good, I think we all play really well together and we all have been working on communicating a lot, which is really important.”
Indeed, the Cardinals captains are embracing their added responsibilities this season.
“It feels really good to be a captain, it’s something that I’ve wanted for a while,” Thibeault said. “It’s so fun to lead these girls they are some of my favorite people.”
“Being a part of this field hockey team has had an impact on my high school experience as a whole,” Donnellan noted. “It’s not only made me a better field hockey player, it’s made me a better person. It’s been a huge part of my future as a field hockey player.”
Greenwich’s field hockey program has a distinguished tradition. Greenwich has 17 FCIAC Tournament titles to its collection, the last of which came when it shared the conference title with Darien in 2012. The Cardinals have also won 10 state championships – 2009, 2006, 2005, 1998, 1994, 1992, 1990, 1988, 1985, 1982.
The Cardinals are in action again on Thursday against Mamaroneck High School at 4:30 p.m.
“We have a lot of new players and a lot of the same players, so we need to keep working toward a spot in the state championship,” Thibeault said.
“We’re always playing with the hope of winning a championship,” Wax said. “We are building today for tomorrow. We want to work on meshing as a cohesive unit, push the tempo and we want to be able to be standing there in November.”
