In Lizzie Millen’s first year as head coach of the Parkland field hockey team, the Trojans took some strides forward and finished at 11-9-1 on the season. Now, the program is prepared to start kicking things into a higher gear as it enters year two under Millen and assistant coach Kristen Shickora.

“Last year, we were just kind of thrown into it and we just sort of buckled the seat belt and hoped for the best,” recalls Shickora. “This year, even with just having done it once before, we feel so much more comfortable and the girls feel so much more comfortable and trust in us and believe in us and that helps.”

This season, Millen’s sister, Hannah, joins the staff after playing for Whitehall High School and Lafayette College.

Last year’s team lost just three seniors, but the downside is that all three – Maddie Pope, Rachel Rizzetto and Gigi Stephens – all saw a good amount of time on the field and contributed to the play of the team. Shickora mentioned that there are juniors and seniors working to fill those holes on the field and in leadership, and there’s help coming from underclassmen as well.

“There are some freshmen that came in and had the wow-factor,” said Shickora. “There’s always so much more to learn, and there are definitely some who are working really hard and that’s what coaches love to see.”

With a strong core of returning players and young players coming up, the Parkland field hockey program figures to have a good season and has hopes for a bright future beyond 2016. The interest in field hockey is even growing in Parkland, with some young players who had never really played the sport before coming out for the team and working to learn the game.

“We’re excited not just about this year, but the years to come,” said Shickora. “We’ve been working together for a year and we really feel like we’re building a team and building Parkland field hockey back to what it could be.”

With a number of young players coming in and the fact that the team has to adjust to playing its home games on the new turf field at the high school, Millen and her staff are stressing fundamentals and a crisp style of play this summer.

“The ball moves much faster on turf and it can work against you if you’re weak or sloppy with passing,” said Shickora. “We’re working on the little skills, the little things. It all starts with the basics. If you can’t master that, then you can’t move on to the more advanced stuff, so we’re really just drilling that into their heads.”

One of the returning players who had somewhat of a breakout season last year is goalkeeper Brie Barraco. Having experience in goal will help to shut down other team’s offense and help Parkland compete with some of the better programs in the area.

“We think our girls are ready to take that next step and take on some of the big teams that we always had trouble competing with before,” said Shickora. “They’re definitely confident, but not so much that they think it’s going to be easy, because it’s not. It’s great to see the team gaining confidence and being excited about the season getting underway.”