The Bishop’s Community’s spirit was at an ultimate high on Saturday, November 16th, as the Varsity Girls Field Hockey Team battled La Jolla High in the CIF Open Division championships. With blankets wrapped around themselves, maroon on every piece of clothing, and gold pom-poms in hand, ecstatic members of the Bishops’ community made the commute down to Bonita Vista High School to watch the girls perform and ultimately win 2-0.
Throughout this past season, Bishop’s Girls’ Field Hockey have been a dominating force, ending as the season as the number one in the West and number six in the country, with a record of 26-1.
Bishop’s Girls’ Field Hockey had previously beaten La Jolla High 2-0 during the regular season, so they knew what kind of game and players they were expecting to encounter.
Though the first quarter, though, ended 0-0, the Bishop’s girls were doing a good job of dominating possession and taking control of the ball at their end.
Then, in the second quarter, Lola Conway (‘28), one of the team’s star players, scored a goal with two minutes remaining. This goal strengthened the girls’ confidence and helped set the tone for the rest of the game.
At half-time, the girls held a one-point lead (1-0) over their opponents, regrouped, and went back out, determined to command control of the second half as well. Lola, again, scored a goal with three minutes left of the third quarter, making the score 2-0 Bishop’s.
Lola explained that her second goal of the game, “was a sense of relief to break the tie.” She added, “from that point on we began to gain momentum to continue to fight and finish out the game.”
This score stayed 2-0 throughout the fourth quarter and just like that, Bishop’s Girls’ Field Hockeybecame the open division champions. Their win made history, as the first time Field Hockey, or any field sport at Bishop’s, has won an Open division title.
Lola, the scorer of both the goals in the game, explained that “it was exciting to win because the whole team worked so hard for it since the start of the season. It was nice to feel and visually see our hard work paying off.”
Along with the many other factors, Head Coach Paula Conway believes that their success was largely due to the five seniors, who were also the captains of the team. “Our senior class was amazing. From the start, they were so determined to have a great season and they set that tone because of all their hard work,” Coach Conway explained. “The five [seniors] were also so inclusive with the group and made everyone on the team feel like a million bucks. Our little saying was “#UKnighted” and I feel like they did a good job making everyone feel super valued no matter what position they played or whether they were a starter or not,” she added.
“The team this year was really special. I think our bond ultimately led us to victory,” said Cece Jeffery (‘27). “Our bond was definitely closer than any other team that we were competing against which had a lot of advantages.”
For Captain Adelaide Kessler (‘25), winning the Open Division Championship was a dream come true. She said that if she’d been told Bishop’s Field Hockey “would be the number one team in California,” when she was a freshman, she“would have called them crazy.” Ultimately, she agreed with Cece, and thinks their success derived from, “the fact that [they] are a family on and off the field.” She explained, “In the moments where the pressure was on, we played for each other; all the work that we put in conditioning, the weight room, and on the field during practice was for one another. So the fact that we were so close and tight-knit helped us to ultimately win the finals!”
The girls had a groundbreaking season, one that will forever go down in Bishop’s history. This successful team has a lot to look forward to in the seasons to come. Go Knights!
