Robinson senior Katie O’Loughlin, middle, moved from forward to defensive midfielder this season. Photo by Jon Roetman.
The Robinson field hockey program returns six starters from last year’s team that went 16-5 and qualified for the region tournament.
None of those starters played defense for the Rams in 2014.
“The biggest issue that we’ve had this year,” head coach Lindsay Arnsmeyer said, “is we graduated our whole defensive line, including our goalie.”
So far, the “issue” hasn’t hindered the Rams.
Robinson defeated South County 3-2 on Tuesday, improving its record to 5-1-1. The Rams ran into trouble during the second day of the Blast ALS tournament on Aug. 27 at Lake Braddock Secondary School, when the team played its fourth and fifth games in a three-day period, but Robinson has otherwise experienced early-season success.
After beating Falls Church 7-0 in the season opener on Aug. 25, Robinson came back the following day and beat Mount Vernon 5-0 and Woodson 1-0 during the first day of the Lake Braddock tournament. The next day, the Rams fell behind the host Bruins but managed to earn a 1-1 tie thanks to a second-half goal by senior Gwen Carsten.
Arnsmeyer said she could tell the Rams were tired.
“Towards the end is how we’ve been playing [with] pressure,” Arnsmeyer said. “The last 10 minutes was how they’re expected to play. The first 40 minutes was not. ... I think we showed bits and pieces throughout the whole game that we were able to dominate.”
Robinson lost its final game of the tournament to West Springfield 2-1.
With the Rams lacking experience in the back, Arnsmeyer moved senior Katie O’Loughlin from forward to defensive center midfielder.
“Last year I played her as a forward and this year, just because she’s very defensive minded and very calm in the back, I’ve had to move her to defensive mid,” Arnsmeyer said. “... She’s calm, she’s a leader, she communicates really well and she’s very good at seeing the field, so she can switch the ball back and forth. She’s good not only on offense, but defense, which is what we really need.”
O’Loughlin said she plays defense for her club team, so the transition wasn’t difficult, but she feels pressure to help some of her teammates.
“A lot of the girls, it’s either they don’t have a lot confidence in themselves or they’re still learning how to play defense,” O’Loughlin said, “so I feel a lot of pressure to not only play well myself, but also support my teammates.”
Senior forward Charlotte Clark, senior midfielder Anna Turner and Carsten are also expected to be significant contributors for the Rams.
Robinson will travel to face Lee at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 8.