WEST CANAAN — Jenn Hammond doesn’t want last season’s state title to be the peak of Mascoma High field hockey.
If anything, she expects it to be the foundation of the Royals’ program, and when practice started on Monday, she made sure to remind her team of that. They were sent straight over to the football field and pulled sleds to work on explosiveness and quick stops all morning.
Hammond takes pride in the team’s NHIAA Division III championship, the school’s first in 35 years. But she knows as a head coach entering her sixth season that a target will now be on the Royals in every game they play, and it’s her job to make sure they’re ready.
“You have to go into each game like you’re 0-0 and it’s the start of the season,” she said. “You don’t want to lose; you don’t want to be on that end. But if you do, you lose graciously and learn from that game and move forward.”
The core of Mascoma’s state championship team was its defense, which had a lot to do with senior Bella Kondi. The center back was relied upon heavily whenever the ball fell into the back portion of the field.
Kondi’s ability to lead the defense allowed for stellar stats for goalie Abby Duhaime. In the Royals’ path to their state title, Duhaime didn’t allow a goal in the playoffs and had to make only three saves. In total, Duhaime allowed just nine goals on the season.
Hammond will spend the preseason trying to fill those two slots now that Kondi and Duhaime have graduated. Mascoma won’t field a junior varsity team this fall; all 16 girls on the roster will suit up for the varsity.
Sophomore Emily Conrad and freshman Ari Lecuyer will continue to compete for the starting goalie job. As of Tuesday’s practice, Hammond wasn’t ready to announce a starter but pointed out Conrad’s experience from her time on junior varsity last season.
“They’re both working super-hard,” Hammond said. “We’ve been pulling them aside and working on reaction time and things of that sort. We don’t want them to feel overwhelmed by the whole thing, because that is a lot of pressure. But it also has to get through 10 people to get to the goalie, so everybody on the team has to do their job.”
While they wish Kondi and Duhaime were back on defense, captain Michaela Dowd and forward Amelia Wilson both know it’s their time to lead the Royals. The two make up part of a five-person senior class.
They spent the summer playing on turf at Colby-Sawyer College against local teams. It allowed Hammond to make sure her girls are keeping the sticks in their hands, developing chemistry among themselves and allowing them to get used to turf, which isn’t available at Mascoma.
The senior class remembers the heartbreak of 2017, when the Royals went on a Cinderella playoff run as the No. 10 seed, eventually losing to top-ranked Newfound in the championship game.
But with last season’s 16-1-0 record — the only loss coming to Division II Hanover — and a state championship, the Mascoma seniors know that every time they take the field opposing teams will have highlighted the game on their schedules.
“I think we’re just a little nervous, because there’s a target on our back,” Dowd said. “So we’re just trying to keep our cool and do everything we did last year. But we have a really big hole to fill in the defense because Bella was really strong on D. So we’re just trying to make every part of the team really strong.”
Hammond’s adamant that the Royals won’t let the championship go to their heads. If it does, she’ll remind them about 2017.
The offense should stay potent. Senior forward Mackenzie Labrie scored the lone goals in the final two games of the playoffs last season and is set to return. Wilson has a knack for finding an open Labrie, and the attack should allow for some time to adjust for the new faces on defense.
Until the season starts, though, Hammond will continue the tough conditioning. On Tuesday morning, she had the Royals rolling tires. In the afternoon, it was more drills focused on stick work.
She’s throwing everything she can to get the Royals ready for the trials of defending a state title.
Stick Checks: Mascoma is set to host its jamboree starting at 9 a.m. Saturday. Lebanon, Windsor, Kearsarge and Winnisquam will also take part. Each team will play four 25-minute games. … The Royals start their season Sept. 3 at home against Gilford at 4 p.m.
Pete Nakos can be reached at pnakos@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.