Amelie Francois and Samantha Sebasto are welcoming their new bigger roles on the Ewing High School field hockey team.
Francois has moved up from defense to midfield. The senior played midfield in middle school, but once she got to high school she changed to defense for her first three years. Now she’s adjusting back to midfield at the high school level.
“Midfield is a lot more running,” Francois said. “I also have to be a lot more offensive minded, rather than just defensive minded. It’s a lot of passing, not just getting the ball out, but passing to the offense and making sure I’m in the right spot and moving up enough and making sure I’m in the right position to help out the team.”
Sebasto didn’t have to move positions. The junior is back as one of Ewing’s three main forwards, but she’s happy to be seeing more playing time this season.
“It’s a pretty big difference keeping the momentum up and pushing yourself,” Sebasto said. “It’s definitely better than going in and feeling good while you’re playing and being taken out.”
Francois and Sebasto are tri-captains along with standout forward Jaycee Lowe, who is a senior. They have been helping to bring along a Ewing team that graduated most of its defense and has varsity inexperience throughout the field. The trio combines to give the Blue Devils inspiring leadership.
“They’ve been great,” said Ewing head coach Leslie Conant, who returns with assistant coach Kelly Hammer. “Jaycee, Samantha and Emilie are great on and off the field.
“I couldn’t ask for three better captains. Just the fact that they work hard is encouraging, and they also lay down the law too and tell our girls to get to the line or get to the ball or talk. It’s really a good balance of salt and sweet.”
The Ewing roster also includes: Dylan Greco, Angelina Gonzalez, Kellie Kramarz, Lara Martin, Ty Melvin, Rachel Messina, Tala Marzooq, Jada Muir, Dasi Pearson, Molly Servis, Samantha Tiziker and Monica Wang.
‘I’ll be completely 100 percent fine if everyone is enjoying the game and having a good time and working together. That’s the most important part, that we’re working together as a team.’
The captains are working to bring along the team after an 0-6 start. The Blue Devils as a group have spent the early portion of the season adjusting to their new look.
“It’s been difficult,” Sebasto said. “There are girls who played different positions last year who are playing a new position this year and trying to teach girls that are from Fisher that are used to other positions. It’s looking better and they’re getting it pretty fast.”
The captains expect that their less veteran teammates will grow faster because they have the opportunity to play early. Ewing will have the chance to build itself up over this season and beyond with a relatively small senior class of a half-dozen.
“With having such a small team and having not many girls that have a lot of experience, it gives them time to be in the game,” Francois said. “You can only get better with playing. In my freshman year, there were a lot of older girls who were experienced, so I didn’t get to play that much. While we had practices, game experience is the most important.”
The emphasis for the Blue Devils has been on positioning and learning the ins and outs of the game. Progress has been steady since the start of preseason.
“Definitely communication is big,” Sebasto said. “We’re still working out some of our kinks. To know where everyone is on the field to set up for goals and plays is big.
“There’s definitely been a lot of improvement with their skills and the team’s skills all-around honestly,” she added. “I’m very impressed with where they’ve come from.”
Francois is enjoying being a leader for the team. She’s seen her experience grow each year, though last year she was hampered by a broken finger that cost her some playing time. She’s come into this season determined to be an impactful player for Ewing.
“Being a senior and also being a captain, it’s a big responsibility,” Francois said. “You have to encourage the other girls, especially if we’re down by a lot of goals and everyone is becoming anxious and the atmosphere is getting bad. You have to keep it up and encourage them and show them everything is going to be OK and we can still do it and keep up the intensity.”
Her focus is on helping the revamped defense that lost Lauren Ettenger, Deanna Hedrick and goalie Kendall Bartkowski, as well as center mid Katie McGinn to graduation, and pushing the ball up to the offense for scoring chances. Sebasto is focused on helping the Blue Devils be more productive on the offensive end.
“We have Lara Martin and Jaycee Lowe on the offensive attack along with myself, and that looks pretty good considering we all have experience on the offensive line,” Sebasto said. “We also have some newbies that are switching in with midfield and attack. All in all, it’s looking pretty good with girls that aren’t as experienced with it.”
The Ewing offense is looking to create more scoring chances. They have started to pick up the opportunities which can help take some pressure off the defense.
“We might not be getting the amount of goals that we want to get,” Sebasto said, “but we’re definitely setting up goals and getting down low to the cage a lot more.”
Sebasto came into this season better prepared to contribute. She is in some of the best shape of her life, which is important since Conant doesn’t expect to take her off the field.
“Definitely I’m a lot fitter this year,” Sebasto said. “Last year, since I didn’t get as much playing time as I would have liked, I wasn’t as fit. But this year, between preseason and running at home and doing my own things, I’m definitely more fit.”
Across the board, the Blue Devils have been improving. Preseason practices helped to start to bring them up to speed and get them used to their spots.
“The girls did well and we got their fitness up and definitely did a lot of learning,” Conant said. “I feel positive with the girls we have and their work ethic in general. They really push each other. The first few games we got off to a bit of a rough start. Part of that was we only had one scrimmage in the preseason so it was hard to figure out positioning and where each girl would be beneficial to the team. After the first couple games, we learned a lot about ourselves and each other.”
The play will improve as the players grow more comfortable with their positioning. Ewing would like that to happen quickly, but it takes playing time and experience to put it all together.
“It’s that adjustment more than anything,” Conant said. “Their stickwork, hustle and fitness is pretty even with the years prior. It’s just figuring out what to do and where to go and when it’s OK to go up and when you should go back.”
“It’s a little inexperience,” she explained. “We have a senior this year that came out for the first time. It’s not like all our girls are young. ”
The inexperience plays into expectations for this year. The Blue Devils expect to be a far better team by the end of the season, but aren’t sure they can match last year’s six wins.
“It’s definitely a lot of positive things going on,” Conant said. “Kelly and I are very optimistic about the season. It may not be the six or 10 wins that we’ve had in seasons past, but there are little small goals in each game that we hope to achieve and keep the girls enthusiastic and ready for the next one.”
Francois is looking for a strong finish to her high school career before she decides if she’ll join a club team in college. She’s happy to have the chance to build up the Blue Devils in her last year.
“I want to see everything clicking with everyone and I want to see the intensity being up the entire game whether we win or lose,” Francois said. “As long as we’re playing the best we can with the highest intensity, I’ll be completely 100 percent fine if everyone is enjoying the game and having a good time and working together. That’s the most important part, that we’re working together as a team.”
Sam Sebasto during a game last September against Allentown. (File photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
