On the night of Wednesday the 11, Chelsea field hockey beat Ann Arbor Pioneer for the first time in nine years. The 2-1 win was unexpected; Pioneer’s field hockey program has been extremely successful, with a total of 27 state championships within the past 39 years. By knocking out the D1 defending champions, Chelsea has shot up to number one in the National High School Field Hockey League’s D2 rankings. 

“I think we really work together as a team,” Braiden Scheffler (25’) said. “We’ve all been playing with each other for a while now, so we all know how each other works.” 

Scheffler has been playing field hockey since fourth grade, so she’s known many of her teammates for years. She’s also faced her fair share of challenges alongside them. Most recently, a broken nose. Practically unfazed, she bounced back to play in Pioneer just two days after her injury.

“It was in the FGR game, I was playing defense, and a girl hit me in the face with her stick,” Scheffler said. “I broke my nose and I had to get three stitches. I had to sit out for practice and let it heal for like a day, but I came back and played in the Pioneer game.”

In the face of injury, Scheffler held a high level of commitment to her sport; a commitment that seems to be reflective of the team as a whole. Last year’s loss to Dexter in the championship game inspired a new intensity in the team’s mindset.

“We made it [to the championship] last year, but fell short,” Scheffler said. “This year, we’re really set on making it back to the state championship. We want to [win this time]. We’re definitely more determined, and really are just working even harder to get there.”

The team has big goals for the season; however, they still have a while to go before the championship. Scheffler knows that they must continue the work to keep them on track to accomplish those goals.

“I think we can still get better and better each game,” Scheffler said. “We just have to keep up our current intensity, and not back down.”