Girl Power: Skate to the States

Every athlete knows how tough it can be to make a Varsity team. A few off-days and the wrong first impression can dictate your entire high school athletic career. Come tryouts, the pressure is on. Tryouts are long and grueling, and they bring out the most vicious, competitive sides of athletes. The process is both mentally and physically demanding and is especially nerve-racking if you happen to be a female trying out for the Menʼs Hockey team. Two underclassmen girls were strong enough and brave enough to take on the challenge.

If youʼve ever seen the movie Gracie, you might imagine Eliza Brosgol and Erin Nicholasʼ tryouts looking something like Gracieʼs. They were shown no special treatment; They were evaluated on the same criteria as the boys were. The nature of the female body forced the girls to work hard to put on the same amount of muscle, but on the ice, the only thing that distinguishes one from the guys is a long ponytail trailing behind the maroon and white helmet.

Brosgol, a sophomore, and Nicholas, a freshman, were introduced to competitive hockey at young ages. In fact, the sport runs in Nicholas family blood. Erinʼs older brothers, James ʼ15 and Stephen ʼ16, are now her teammates.

Both girls participated in the Modified Program at Scarsdale Middle School. Of the SMS boys hockey team, Brosgol says, "It was a really good experience. The game moves much faster with the boys. In that sense, it prepared me for the high school team." Nicholas agrees that past experiences helped prepare her to play with the High School boys. "My travel coach is my dad so having different coaches gave me a small preview of what varsity would be like. The high school team is different because the kids are much bigger, faster and older than I am." She plays on a boys club team, and had become familiar with the rougher manner in which boys play the game.

Brosgol plays for a girls club team, which keeps her quite busy. "Not that many girls in the area play hockey. For our team to find good competition, we have to travel much further. Weekends are hard. Sometimes Iʼll have a game 2 hours north and the next day, another 2 hours south." When asked if she thinks SHS will ever have a Girls team, Brosgol says, "Only if girls start playing hockey! It would need to involve girls from other towns since there arenʼt that many who play." The boys team practices tend to be held in more convenient locations as larger numbers of them live in a common area. Battling obstacles like tight schedules and knee injuries, the girls persevered and begun the season with the Raiders in November. "The try outs were definitely a challenge, but I have no regrets about trying out because the team has been so much fun and has been doing so well", says Nicholas. Brosgol was also nervous, but remembers, "When I got there and started playing, it went away." The girls were very proud and excited to have made the team. At the Winter Sports Awards March 4, Coach Jim Mancuso informed parents and other athletes that having girls on the team kept the boys on their best behavior.

Each girl feels lucky to have someone else in the same position. Nicholas remarked, "Having Eliza on the team made the experience a lot less awkward and a lot more fun. I played field hockey with her and I played hockey with her when we were younger so it was a lot of fun getting closer to her on this team."

Their team has been playing together for nearly four months, beginning pre- season in November and continuing the post-season until just recently. A sixteen-week losing season would be an eternal misery for coaches and players alike, but fortunately, "ʻDers Puck" had no such season.

Mancuso expressed his doubts in the Raiders performance against Suffern; It was extremely difficult to beat them once, and beating them twice would be nearly impossible. With great focus and teamwork, the team proved their coach wrong, beating Suffern 4-3 to win the Section I title for the first time in SHS history. Another win against Shenendahowa put this underdog in the running for the State Championship. They lost 6-4 in the semi-finals against Ithaca in Utica on Saturday, March 8. (You can watch the game on the Scarsdale cable channel this week.) It is always unfortunate to bring a great season to a close with a loss, but simply having the opportunity to compete in the State competition is both impressive and unprecedented for this Scarsdale team.

These girls have undoubtedly inspired athletes of all sports to develop their skills and confidently showcase their talents even if it means going against the norms. When it comes to the Brosgol and Nicholas, "hitting like a girl" is a good thing.

Carly Glickenhaus is a sophomore at SHS. She is a goalkeeper on the Raiders Varsity Soccer team, and also enjoys writing and photography.