For the Stuart Country Day School field hockey team, its season-ending 6-0 victory over the Solebury School (Pa.) marked the culmination of an encouraging stretch drive.
While Stuart fell 2-1 to Pennington in the state Prep B quarterfinals and dropped a 1-0 nail-biter to Notre Dame in the days before the Solebury win, Tartan head coach Missy Bruvik saw plenty of progress in the final week of the campaign.
“We had a great Senior Day game against Solebury,” said Bruvik, who got two goals apiece from junior stars Tori Hannah and Sam Servis in the victory with Cate Donahue and Nneka Onukwugha also scoring.
“We got the opportunity to play Notre Dame and we lost 1-0; we didn’t give up a goal until the second half, we played so well, things clicked. We played a good game against Pennington. We gave up an early goal and that hurt us.”
Although the Tartans ended the fall at 6-14-1, Bruvik liked the way her players competed.
“The kids never gave up, they always played hard,” said Bruvik. “We had a lot of games that could have gone either way.”
While Stuart had only three seniors, Harlyn Bell, Fayette Plambeck and Onukwugha, they gave the team a lot this fall. “Harlyn Bell did a terrific job in goal,” said Bruvik.
“Fayette started every game in the back and was our only four-year player. Nneka had a great Senior Day game.”
The Tartans boasted a great group of juniors with a pair of All-Prep B performers in Hannah and Servis along with Donahue, Julia Maser, Elena Bernewitz, Rose Tetnowski, and Kate Walsh.
“I can’t wait for them to come back for next year, they are really the core of the team,” said Bruvik.
“They lead with how hard they work and their dedication. They have a lot of experience. Tori and Sam have great stickwork. Since freshman year they have put in that extra time outside of school and it really shows. Cate was one of our leading scorers.”
Bruvik saw dedication from top to bottom. “I love how hard our JV players worked; we were taking our numbers and getting the most out of them,” said Bruvik.
“Every kid got to play and improve. They understand what it takes to have a good program. It is a great group of kids. They don’t take themselves too seriously but they know when to work hard. They gave everything they had and I appreciate their efforts.”