There may not be any seniors on the Delmarva Christian field hockey team this fall, but the juniors and sophomores have collected plenty of experience over the last few years and are eager to make an impact as starters.

“Without seniors, we as juniors have to step up and play that role,” said MaryKate Dougherty. “It's hard going from a sophomore to trying to play that role of a senior, but it definitely is good.”

Dougherty sees it as a chance to improve. 

“We get to see the growth in ourselves and all the other girls,” Dougherty said. “It's great to see that even a young team can be strong, and we can play just as well as we did last year.”

Her coach believes the team can continue to grow with the junior leadership. 

“My expectation is for them to step up and really show everybody how to play, how to to keep going and encourage everyone else to keep working together for each other,” Laura Balback said.

One area she sees room for progress is the nature of play against larger schools.

“We need to match the aggression of the public schools on our schedule,” Balback said.

Dougherty will be in charge of the backline. She believes teams will find it tough to score against the Royals.

“Defense is a big thing with us," she said. "I feel like we have good defense and we’ll be able to win a few games that way, but the offense is doing great. If they are scoring, we will win a few more."

“MaryKate is gonna have to step it up for defense and manage that, Olivia [Balback] needs to hold down the midfield and I want to see Anaiah [Mulhern] take control of the offense,” Balback said. “They need to work together and put all those pieces into place to make it cohesive.”

One of her junior midfielders is optimistic about the glue sticking.

“Girls are getting along great. I think we all have a good connection with one another,” Braelyn Hellens said. “We just need to build a good relationship with each other, go out there, try our hardest and whatever happens happens. It's in God's plan.”

While the record may tell one story, Hellens is looking forward to what stats can’t show.

“All the bus rides with the girls, our little fun moments that we have with each other and playing out there trying our hardest,” Hellens said.