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ALTON – Monday was a milestone day for Marquette Catholic's field hockey team.
The Explorers, in their first season of competition, got a chance to play at their home field at Gordon Moore Park.
They honored their only senior, Mallory Maag, in a pre-match ceremony.
And they wrapped up their regular season in style, getting a late first-half goal from Danielle Folkerts to take a 1-0 win over Notre Dame of St. Louis County.
All in all, a very good day for the Explorers and their new program.
“Their progression has just been amazing,” said Explorer coach Sara Ulrich. “We started Aug. 3 and we had a couple of girls who played last season when we had a club team, but I would say half the team was brand-new this year; the first time they picked up a stick was Aug. 3, so I'm never going to complain about winning three games and tying one this season.
“Every game, except for a couple, was close, like two or three goals. They've really progressed, they're really putting the plays together and it's kind of fun to watch them see, without me actually telling them what to do, them figuring out what to do on their own.”
Folkerts' goal came with 3:49 left in the first half and came on a break downfield where Kelsey Sulin found Folkerts with a pass; all Folkerts had to do was put it in the back of the goal. “This was our first goal on our home field,” Folkerts said, “and Kelsey Sulin passed the ball and I reverse-sticked it in. It was great (getting the goal); I had a couple of other goals earlier in the season so this one really helped; we wanted our first home goal because this was our first home game so we had to make it memorable.”
For Maag, the fact that her first home match came in her final regular-season match in her senior year made the day that much more memorable. “It's been a really eventful year,” Maag said. “We've come a long way since we first started out; none of us had ever played before and we won three games; that's pretty good for a first-year team.”
Like many of the Explorer players, Maag had not heard of the sport; she became aware of the team from a recruiting e-mail sent out by the school. “Our school sent some e-mails out that said 'if you want to come out for field hockey, come out to the practices'. We had enough for a team, so now we have a team.
“It (Maag's first training sessions) was definitely trying, it was frustrating, but we have a really good coach and she taught us how (to play the game); she was very patient with us.”
The Explorers will be taking part in the postseason Midwest Tournament, with their first match taking place at Parkway West at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
