Arrowhead girls Varsity Field Hockey coached by Melissa Brengosz and Jordyn Smerchek won the WHSFHA State Championship on October 21st, 2023. The team won by one point, 3-2, against DSHA at the Uhlein Soccer Complex in Milwaukee.
Prior to competing at State, the team got to co-experience Arrowhead’s second-ever Hawkwalk with the Arrowhead Girls Varsity Tennis team. Both teams were honored by being led by the drummers from Arrowhead’s marching band to march through the hallway and be cheered on for going to state that weekend.
“The Hawkwalk was fun and it was fun seeing everyone cheering for us and giving us the support we needed to go onto state,” says senior Sophie Flynn.
This year featured a back-to-back state final between DSHA and Arrowhead’s field hockey teams; however, last year Arrowhead fell short and got state runner’s up. The girls were runners-up in 2021 as well.
“This [year’s] game was very intense and close. We were down 2-1 at halftime so our whole team needed to make sure we kept our energy up and came back strong in the second half. It was such an intense game because once we scored in the first quarter DSHA came back and scored two goals so during the second half we had to hold them and make sure they didn’t score. It was tough because we scored in the last quarter and had to hold them for the last eight minutes of the game,” says Flynn.
The team clinched victory during the second half after Flynn was the sole goal-maker for the state scoring all three goals. After falling short of DSHA the previous year, Arrowhead took back the state victory this year.
“It was very overwhelming, sitting on the sidelines was hard when there was such a good game going on. I was excited to be there with my team, when it first hit that we won state I was so happy but, I also realized that I would never be with this group of girls again. It was a great season filled with a lot of good memories,” says Jojo Johansen, a junior at Arrowhead who couldn’t play during the game due to an injury.
After this season, the field hockey team will be losing four seniors: Sophie Flynn, Naomi Little, Annie Tanke, and Kami Kindred.
