As Labor Day weekend approaches, many Saint Louis students will be taking the opportunity for a short stint at home. For junior Katherine Deem though, last weekend got the job done.
SLU’s field hockey team opened its 2009 campaign with a pair of games in Ohio this past Friday and Sunday.
Deem, who hails from the Buckeye state, is the team’s starting goal keeper.
On Aug. 28, the team took on the Golden Flashes of Kent State University for the season opener. The team struggled early, giving up a goal in the third minute of the game and never really recovering afterwards, going on to lose the contest 7-0. Deem saved three goals in the first half, before sophomore Alex LaBarge took over in the second half.
The Billikens then headed to Columbus to take on Ohio State University on Aug. 30. The Buckeyes entered the season ranked No. 18 in the country. They proved worthy of their ranking, handing the Billikens their second 7-0 loss of the season.
The Billikens again gave up an early goal. However, Deem did her best to keep the team in the game, saving five straight shots at one point.
The team realizes that, even despite the losses, there is still a lot to be gained from the road trip.
“It’s always nice to get that first game and road trip out of the way, get out some of the jitters,” said Deem.
“We learned a lot about our strengths and weaknesses,” she said. “It would have been nice to get that early win, get a confidence boost, but we still learned a lot about our team.”
SLU hopes to use what they learned in their upcoming road games against Robert Morris University and Missouri State University over the coming holiday weekend.
“At practice all week we have been working on limiting those weaknesses and playing to those strengths. We also bonded a lot as a team. All of the freshmen learned what it was like to be a student-athlete and member of the team, I think all of that will help,” said Deem.
Part of the team’s bonding experience included a team dinner at Deem’s house.
Deem, who grew up just 40 miles from the Kent State campus and attended field hockey camps at Ohio State while growing up, enjoyed being back home.
“It was great, kind of bittersweet because I really wanted to get the wins. But I still got to play in front of a lot of friends and family. Aunts and uncles, even my grandparents came out,” said Deem.
The team takes on Robert Morris at noon on Sept. 6 in Springfield, Mo. They take on Missouri State the next day at the same time in Springfield as well.
