In between their morning and afternoon pre-season practices, the Oyster Bay Junior Varsity and Varsity Field Hockey teams washed cars for a wonderful cause, the Special Olympics.
The Special Olympics holds a great place in the game of field hockey, especially here on Long Island. To start off the season each year, every field hockey team in Nassau County competes in the Joan Gruanbaum Memorial Tournament in remembrance of the former Great Neck North coach and teacher who was a lifelong volunteer for the Great Neck Spirits, a chapter of the Long Island Special Olympics. The 29 girls involved in the field hockey program at Oyster Bay High School along with their coaches, Morgan Cestari and Kristen O’Leary, raised $390 dollars for the Special Olympics which they donated Saturday, Sept. 7 at the 11th annual Joan Gruanbaum Memorial Tournament.
The team had an amazing Varsity season last year. They defeated their biggest rival, Carle Place, twice last season; once at the senior game and again in the semi-final playoff game. They went on to play Friends Academy in the Nassau County class C finals and went into double overtime, sadly losing 0-1 within the final 2 minutes. However, the team played beautifully.
Although five key players have graduated, they left a legacy for the Oyster Bay field hockey program to carry on. They have high expectations this year and have had a promising preseason to back it up. The school has a JV team this year, which they have been unable to field the previous two years. That is great news for the growing field hockey program at Oyster Bay.
This year’s goal for the Varsity team is to make it back to the county championships and win it. This season’s key defensive player is Lindsay Sweet. Halsey Quinn will be dictating the midfield. The leading scorer to the forward line, Hannah Kaiser, will return.
The field hockey teams will do another fundraiser for the Play4theCure game on Oct. 2 against Baldwin and will raise money for breast cancer at the annual pink game.
Visit the athletics page on the school website (www.obenschools.org) for team schedules, directions to the away games and all their achievements.
