Ethel Walker School
After a regular season record of 11-3-1, the varsity field hockey team made it to postseason for yet another season. The team won in the quarterfinals at home against Canterbury School, 2-1 on Wednesday, November 14 before advancing to the semis to face #7 New Hampton School. On a home turf that was plowed just hours before, Walker’s had a come-from-behind win to take the semifinal game 2-1 and advance to the finals. In the championship game on Sunday, November 18 at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Walker’s faced the #5 seed, Winsor School from Massachusetts.
As the #3 ranked team, Walker’s found itself behind 3-0 to Winsor in the second half and could not answer back. Coach Mimi Duran was impressed by her team’s work ethic that brought them to the tournament. Faced with injuries and absences throughout the entire season, no two starts saw the same lineup. “The team had to put the work in to get this far. We went over as much as we could to get to the level of play we reached. We were a different team by the end of the season, facing a very good team [Winsor] with off-ball movement that was hard to matchup against.”
Coach Duran concludes her twelfth season coaching varsity field hockey at Walker’s and will say good-bye to six seniors, but will bring back a handful of starters and young talent. Since 2007, Walker’s has qualified for the NEPSAC Class C tournament nine times.
Photo: Walker’s goalie Ava Rivera ’20 sets up to block a shot during the NEPSAC Class C finals.
