“It’s redemption season,” said Wayne Hills Senior Lola Lacorte. The Wayne Hills field hockey team has been improving tremendously over the past couple of years, and now it’s their time to shine.

This past Saturday, October 8, Hills celebrated a triumphant win against long-time rival Wayne Valley in the first round of counties.

“We were all so happy,” Lola continued, “it was about time.” Lola started playing field hockey in her junior year of high school and instantly fell in love with the sport and her team. “We’ve been working so hard for this moment, and it feels so good now that it happened.”

The game was held across town at Valley, raising tensions from the start. Nonetheless, the girls were ready.

It was intense, with the score tied at 1-1 by the time the normal game period (60 minutes) ended. Unfortunately, games, especially county games, cannot end in a tie.

So, overtime, and in this instance, double overtime.

Basically, this means that after the initial 60-minute-game, two additional 10-minute halves were played (with only 7 girls on the field as opposed to the usual 11 players) until one of the teams scored.

The girls were tired, slightly frustrated, and ready to end the game when Sophomore Emily Gougousis pulled out all the stops and scored the winning stroke.

Crowds cheered, girls celebrated, and a new confidence was set upon the Wayne Hills Field Hockey team.

“It was so relieving, having lost to Valley the last time,” said Lola. “We definitely deserved this win and will take this fire into our next games. I am so happy and proud of everything we have done this season.”

The win sent the girls into the county semi-finals where they played West Milford. Although they did not win this game (4-1), the season is not over. The team’s record is currently 7-7 and there are 5 more games scheduled for the season.

Be sure to look out for the next varsity game at West Milford High School on Monday, October 17 at 4:15!