‘This is one of their best games of the season overall,’ Sacred Heart Academy head coach Lara Haab

Sacred Heart Academy beat Lower Merion 5-0 in early October. Photos: Bob Benscoter

Despite significant challenges, including playing on a grass field in a turf generation and overcoming a tough losing streak last season, the Sacred Heart Academy field hockey team has improved under first-year varsity head coach Lara Haab.

With only a few games remaining in the regular Pennsylvania high school field hockey season, the few schools that play on grass remain at a disadvantage to compete at the current quickness of high school games.

A field hockey success story is looking to Susquenita in District 3, which went from playing field hockey on grass to turf when the district modernized its football field to a multipurpose turf.

The field hockey team improved to 2023 District 3 finalists and state tournament competitors.

Wyoming Area, which still plays on grass, has found a way to move beyond the restrictions of that surface, accomplishing what few grass teams can do. They were 2022 PIAA Class 1A finalists. They had an extremely strong defensive penalty corner unit.

Haab, who also serves as the academy's strength and conditioning coach, said she has focused on mastering fundamentals and adapting to different playing surfaces.

"We play on grass and we've been having a lot of games against turf teams on turf, which has been extremely difficult from a coaching standpoint, and also from a playing standpoint," Haab said. "And they have risen to the occasion...the change in their ability to play on turf — when we don't get turf practices — has been extremely, extremely improved over time."

She, alongside her athletic director, said installing a new turf field is their "No. 1 motivation."

The 5-0 victory against Lower Merion field hockey in early October reveals how hyper-focused they are trying to navigate grass, Haab said.

The Game

Sacred Heart were more aggressive in the first and third quarters, focusing on creating up-field options and cutting to passing lanes.

"We all worked together, and saw each other in the field,” junior forward Cailin Kennedy said. “We did a good job, switching the field and getting the ball up the field."

Junior midfielder Dani Jeffries added, "I think it was really important that we came out with a motivated mindset and we never backed down from that."

The Lions lost all but three games last year and a few of them were by wide margins.

"This is one of their best games of the season overall, putting everything that we practiced into the game,” Haab said. “To then come out and have a 6-0 win and then a 5-0 win...it is a true testament to how much work they've put in from preseason until today."

Both Sacred Heart (Class 1A) and Lower Merion (Class 3A) play in District 1, one of Pennsylvania's most competitive districts.

The Aces also practice on grass.

“Our practice field is on grass, and our JV still plays on grass, but we typically do not play varsity games on grass,” Lower Merion head field hockey coach Kylie Kelce said.

The Aces were able to control the play in the second and fourth quarters. The difference between the two teams was that skill and luck didn’t break their way.

Multiple times the ball bounced in the air off a divot, leaving ample room for players to try to anticipate where it was going.

Lower Merion, currently in a rebuilding phase with a younger roster, still demonstrated speed, vision, and a strong defense.

“We do have a fairly young team,” Kelce said. “We lost 12 seniors last year. This year we have four, so fairly young. And we've had some freshman pop in and sophomores pop in to get some meaningful minutes…a number of times where offensively, we get within range or, in the circle, as an offensive threat, and then we just don't quite finish. It’s something that we've worked on at practice and can't quite translate into a game yet, but we are in progress.”

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