HUDSON – The Hudson High School field hockey team was recently honored with the Mid-Wach C league’s Sportsmanship Award.
That came as individual players also earned all star nods.
The Hawks assembled a 6-8-2 overall win-loss record this year, with a 3-6-8 record specifically in league play.
“I’m really proud of Hudson field hockey,” Head Coach Jen Wallingford wrote in an email to the Community Advocate, Nov. 21.
“I care about integrity and effort, and playing to win the right way while still looking out for each other as human beings,” she continued. “I believe in love of the [game] and not ‘win at whatever cost.’ So, other coaches recognizing those values in our players and coaching staff means a lot.”
Wallingford had warned back in August that this could be a difficult season for Hudson due to a lack of players registering to play field hockey.
“Hudson is going to have a challenging season because of numbers, but I think I have a great little group,” she told the Community Advocate after a preseason scrimmage against Tantasqua.
Roughly three months later, she dubbed the season a success, also noting that the team had been granted a waiver during its season, allowing it to call up three seventh grade students from Quinn Middle School to play at the junior varsity level.
“That really helped,” Wallingford said, noting that the JV team had been playing 7 v 7 games instead of standard 11 v 11 contests due to the varsity program’s need to maintain a full roster for 11 v 11 games.
“Playing 7 v 7 is better than not having a JV program, but of course it makes more sense for these younger players, who are usually new to the sport, to learn actual positions in a full-field, 11 v 11 game,” Wallingford said.
Hudson was led in all this by all-stars Allie Davis, Olivia Bower and Kristyn Vasselin, among others.
Davis earned first team honors while Bower and Vasselin were both honored at the second team level.
Bower was a major scorer for the Hawks this year, notching four goals and four assists throughout the season. Vasselin added two goals and an assist while holding down the midfield in her position here. Davis, meanwhile, played “consistently strong defense” for Hudson, Wallingford said.
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