Being a team accustomed to playing in the heat, the Mavericks field hockey team was not used to the 40-degree weather and consistent rain they played in. These conditions, however, did not dampen the spirits of the girls on their highly anticipated trip to St. Louis.

Despite being challenged by weather conditions and opponents’ different styles of play, the Mavs earned three victories and tied one game. After being down 3-1 on Friday, Oct. 12, the Mavs reset to score two goals and tie Villa Duchesne 3-3, the team they lost to in last year’s scrimmages. Later that day, they beat Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MICDS) 2-1. On Saturday, the Mavs beat Cor Jesu 5-1 and ended their trip with a 4-0 victory against St. Joseph’s Academy.

Knowing that playing four games in 21 hours is no easy feat, the coaches stated that one of the team’s goals was to continue playing at a high level throughout each game, pushing through the fatigue. Playing consecutive games also helped the Mavs prepare for SPC.

“These games helped us to get a stepping stone to SPC, because playing that many games in that short period of time is kind of what we do at SPC, so that really helped us to get going in that direction,” coach Brenda Mercado said.

This year marks the third year the field hockey team traveled out of state to play. Mercado and head coach Craig Chambers requested four specific teams to play against, unlike last year, when a coach in St. Louis assigned the Mavericks’ opponents. Chambers and Mercado arranged to play the Missouri state champion, Villa Duchesne, and the three other top teams in the state.

“We wanted to play the best teams over there,” Chambers said. “Missouri has a more competitive depth of teams than we have here in Texas.”

Junior Sofia Castore said that the primary challenge was the St. Louis teams having a higher caliber than Houston teams, along with their unfamiliar playstyles.

“We wanted to make sure we work together and improve on communicating throughout the game, which is one of our weaknesses,” Castore said.

As the weekend progressed, the Mavs embraced the differences and challenges they faced in St. Louis. 

“At the end of the tournament, we played exceptionally well together,” Fyhr said. “It was a lot of fun adapting to all the things that were different in St. Louis and playing more competitive teams. This trip definitely helped us improve our skill sets.”