WINDSOR — Field hockey did not initially bring Jody Wood and Blake Wardwell together. But it didn’t take long for Wood to realize she may have met her successor to lead the Windsor High program completely by chance.
Wood took over the Yellowjackets in 2017, the same year she started working as a benefits coordinator at Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center.
Three years later, Wardwell, a former field hockey standout at Woodstock High and Castleton University, joined Mt. Ascutney as a human resources generalist, and the two quickly discovered their shared interest.
After Wood stepped down last March in order to watch her daughter, Hannah, play at Keene State College, she asked Wardwell — who had helped run some conditioning drills during the 2021 season — to take on the head coaching job for a program coming off three consecutive VPA Division III state titles.
“It’s hard to gauge last year, because she only made it to a handful of practices,” Wood said. “But just seeing her engage with the players last year, I know what she’s capable of. There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s going to bring great things to the team.”
Wardwell grew up in Bridgewater and was a three-sport athlete at Woodstock, playing basketball and lacrosse in addition to field hockey. But she shined brightest in the fall, helping the Wasps win the Division II state championship as a sophomore in 2007. Woodstock also reached the finals in 2008 and 2009, dropping the ’09 title game to Windsor.
At Castleton, Wardwell started just two games as a freshman but became one of the Spartans’ best offensive players over her final three years. Her 18 goals and 38 points in her junior season were both third on the team, and her 17 goals and 42 points the following year were both second. She finished her college career fourth in Castleton history in both goals and points and was twice named North Atlantic Conference Player of the Week.
Wardwell continued her lacrosse career at Castleton as well, making the all-NAC First Team and leading the Spartans in ground balls and caused turnovers as a senior. After college, she returned to Woodstock and worked as an assistant field hockey coach at her alma mater.
Even after a few years away from coaching, she did not need much persuading when Wood encouraged Wardwell to take over for her.
“She really helped make me comfortable and boosted my confidence and told me I could do it,” Wardwell said.
“She’s taught me a lot about the girls, and any time I have a question, because she knows the majority of them, she’s given me some tips on how to coach them. Instead of coming in and changing it all, we’ve kept quite a bit the same to try to help with the transition.”
Emma Saucier has remained on Wardwell’s staff as an assistant, and Windsor alumna Brodie Ladue came on board this year. The Yellowjackets have just one senior this year but always seem to reload rather than rebuild, and the early-season schedule is full of tests against upper division squads.
Windsor opened last Friday with a 4-1 win at Division I foe Rutland, then suffered a 4-0 loss in Wednesday’s home opener to a perennial Division I power, Bellows Falls. In fact, the Jacks only have two Division III teams — Springfield and Fair Haven — on their entire schedule. It’s a nearly identical slate to what Windsor had last year, when the Yellowjackets started 1-3-1 before catching fire and cruising through the postseason.
“Blake and her coaching staff are doing a great job with the girls,” athletic director Jim Taft said. “It’s an adjustment period when you’re following somebody who has been super successful there. There might be a standard that you’re trying to uphold, but this coaching staff is making its own path.”
While Wood helped her players primarily with skills specific to field hockey, Wardwell said she comes from a fitness background and focuses more on conditioning, especially in the preseason. Overall, though, she said their coaching styles are similar — Wardwell figured that given how dominant Windsor had been for the last five years under Wood, not much needed to change.
With more freshmen than upperclassmen, Wardwell and company have their work cut out for them as they go for a fourth straight championship, but the four captains — senior Alexina Peckinpaugh, juniors Sydney Perry and Amber Simonds and sophomore Gabby Gilbert — have helped ease the transition between the old boss and the new one.
“(The coaching change) made the freshmen coming in a little bit nervous. It was definitely intimidating for them,” Perry, the starting goalie, said. “(But Wardwell) definitely knows what we need to do this season. We are not as conditioned as we have been in past years, so getting all the conditioning in the preseason, we did a lot of it, and it helped us jump right in.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.