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Grit, Goals and Glory: The Road to Maverick Field Hockey’s Extraordinary Three-Peat

By Yutia Li, St. John's School, School Buzz Reporter | December 3, 2024

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Mavs celebrate after winning their third consecutive SPC championship. Top row from left: Remy Phan, Josephine VanHoutan, Kate Johnson, Sophia Jammar, Adair Patterson, Gracey Crawford, Sofia Ruegg, Lexi Burger, Grace Bowling, Annie Li, Mia McKenney, Ellie Burger, Caroline Engle, Robin Rider, Coach Mary Crawford, Campbell Pacey, Coach Brenda Mercado, Coach Emily White. Bottom row from left: Neve Merideth, Maureen Ebaugh, Lore Laniyan, Montgomery Ferguson, Valentina Baizan, Eliza Perrin, Chloe West, Ellie Lewis. (Photo: Annie Li)

On Saturday Nov. 9, the St. John’s field hockey team capped off their season with a 3rd consecutive SPC championship. As soon as the clock ran out, the team sprinted to embrace each other, screaming and jumping for joy, in the center of a Dallas field hockey pitch. Yet the road to the trophy hadn’t been a smooth one.

In September, the Mavs travelled to Pennsylvania for the Max Field Hockey High School National Invitational, where they went 1-2 against several top-ranked teams in the nation. But the competition did not get easier from there.

On Oct. 10, the Mavs were stunned by their SPC rival Kinkaid 1-5. The loss stung. But the Mavs also used it as fuel, reframing the defeat as one of many learning experiences along the road to their final destination. The team got straight to work at practice the next day, their eyes already set on the SPC championship tournament a month later.

“We made a list of all the things we had to work on over the next couple weeks,” sophomore Annie Li said. “We talked about how this was good for us in the long run, because if we had won this game, we were going to go into the SPC tournament overconfident.”

When the SPC tournament finally arrived, the Mavs defeated Duchesne 11-0 in the opening round and Episcopal 5-0 in the semifinals, bringing them to a long-awaited rematch against the Kinkaid Falcons.

The Mavs went into the game more than ready to leave it all on the field. “In our pregame circle, we were talking about how every one of us deserves to be here and how we’ve all worked so hard for this moment,” Li said.

Through the first two quarters, the game was tied at 0-0. The Falcons scored in the third quarter, and the Mavs trailed by one heading into the last 15 minutes of the game. With 10:55 left to play, senior Chloe West found the back of the net. Sophomore Sofia Ruegg followed with another goal five minutes later. It was enough to propel the Mavs to a three-peat.

Throughout the regular season and their SPC run, Li credits the Mavs’ success and ability to respond to failure with never losing sight of their “why.” Part of their “why” was their head coach, Emily White, who was in her first year at St. John’s.

“We were playing for her because she told us she hadn’t won a championship since nine years ago. We were playing for our seniors in their last games as Mavericks. We were playing for each other,” Li said.