Two outstanding field hockey programs took the field on Wednesday but the two teams are at very different stages of development heading into the 2024 season. Dexter is taking aim at a three-peat in Division 2 after beating Chelsea in last year’s State Finals while Skyline has a new coach and an almost completely new roster after not only losing to Pioneer in last year’s D-1 finals but also losing a field full of talented seniors.
Dexter dominated play from start to finish against a hard-working Skyline team that showed flashes of great potential – even in their first game of the season. Dexter scored a 7-0 win to improve to 2-0 on the season.
“We played pretty well,” Dexter Coach Keely Tamer said. “We got a little flat at times and were running a lot of players through. I would like to see more players on the score sheet because we got a lot of goals from the same people but it’s good that they were able to finish.
SEE WLAA/DEXTER PHOTOGALLERY – 90 PHOTOS
“We have places where we need to get better but at this point of the season I’m happy.”
New Skyline coach Shelby Fulkerson also is happy, taking over a program that routinely made trips to the state finals. Fulkerson, who coached the Eagles during their first two years and took them to the State Finals in 2013, likes what she has seen so far from her very inexperienced team.
“We lost 14 seniors and only have 19 players for two teams,” said Fulkerson, whose Eagles have only been practicing for a week. “But I thought we played well. Everyone hustled and played hard even though we didn’t have any subs. Dexter is a very good team so I was happy with how we played against them.”
Fulkerson, who played field hockey at Central Michigan, took a break from coaching to raise her family and is glad to be back in the game with the Eagles. “We have a solid group with a positive attitude and I’m looking forward to us getting better over the course of the season.”
Olivia Croftchik scored at 9:53 of the first quarter to give Dexter a 1-0 lead and scored again to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.
In the second quarter, Alli St. Amour scored to make it 3-0 at 6:14. With 3:22 left in the first half, Claire Dubuque scored to make it 4-0. In the third quarter, Avery Shaieb scored at 11:26 to give Dexter a 5-0 lead. Dubuque scored again to make it 6-0 with 3:46 left to play and Maddie Walsh scored in the final minute to give the Dreads a 7-0 win.
SEE WLAA/DEXTER PHOTOGALLERY – 90 PHOTOS
Season Preview: Dreadnaughts looking to three-peat in field hockey
