DIXFIELD — It was a forgone conclusion that a new plan of attack was going to be necessary this season for the Dirigo field hockey program because 12 seniors had been lost to graduation.

The task has been taken on in slow stages throughout the preseason with the four returning lettermen eagerly accepting the challenge.

The core of the team consists of seniors Amanda Law, Dana Burns, Sheena Hamner and Liz Hebert. Despite bearing a veteran status, these players have been asked to try new positions for the good of the team.

“This is a young team,” Law said. “There are a lot of young players. We’ve all had to make sacrifices and changing positions was just one of the things necessary. Our entire defensive system has been changed. The players on offense are new and we’re using a four-person front line.”

Even things have changed at the top, because a couple of new coaches have stepped in to guide the team. Former coach Amy Chaisson knew the players and had a good idea about where the student-athletes would best fit in the system. That’s exactly what new coach Gretchen Curtis and assistant Kim Nixon tried accomplishing throughout the preseason.

“We’ve got some freshmen who had never even played field hockey prior to this year,” Curtis said. “Also, our numbers are not that high, so it’s even hard to get in a full scrimmage. There’s 11 on varsity, with a couple swing players up from JV. Therefore, with so many new players it is hard to try and put in a lot of new things.”

The 2002 team finished 7-5-2 and there was a familiarity because the players had played along side each other for years. This type of cohesiveness provided the team with an identity, everyone knew that the flow of the game would be distributed through the middle of the field by Nikki Turbide and Alyssa Burns.

“There’s a little pressure on us seniors,” Burns said. “In the past, there was older players who stepped up and took control. This year it’s different because the (seniors) job to teach the freshmen.”

“It was hard for us to measure where the girls are,” Curtis said. “Things may be different once start playing in the (Mountain Valley) Conference. It may require some time, but either way they’ll need to play hard because there is not a lot of subs.”

Senior Amanda Kimball is on the front line along with Holly Knight, Sara Oakes and freshman Abby Fenstermacher.

The absence of scoring may put additional focus on the defense because it needs to prevent the other teams from scoring. Besides the two veterans, senior Monica Carver joins freshman goalie Dani Thompkins.

“It has taken some time,” Hebert said. “We just hope to improve from game to game. We’ve seen it both offensively and defensively.”

Clark, a 1995 Dirigo graduate, is well aware of how important it is to remain in top physical condition. Curtis scored over 1000 points in her basketball career and had coached the JV girls’ basketball team at Jay.”

“Physical conditioning is stressed on this team as well,” Curtis said. “The players will be running throughout the game, so they’ll need to be in shape. “

There’s no time to rest, so we also need to remain positive.”