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# Different team, same goal for Hollis Brookline field hockey
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/different-team-same-goal-for-hollis-brookline-field-hockey/
- Published: 2025-10-14T21:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-10-14T21:30:00.000Z
- Description: The goal remained the same going into this year for the Hollis Brookline High School field hockey this fall, despite graduating seven seniors from last year’s team, which won the Division II championship for the first time. But three weeks into the season, the Cavaliers were at a crossroads.
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division II, Cavaliers, field hockey, Hollis Brookline, NH High School Sports Insider, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

The goal remained the same going into this year for the Hollis Brookline High School field hockey this fall, despite graduating seven seniors from last year’s team, which won the Division II championship for the first time.

But three weeks into the season, the Cavaliers were at a crossroads.

They’d lost back-to-back games, allowing five goals in the two contests, matching the same number they had allowed all of last season.

“It was a real wake-up call,” senior Caroline Crawford said. “We looked at those two games and said ‘is that how we want to play our season.’ We all motivated each other and we got in the same mindset that if we want this, we have to fight for it. It’s not going to just come to us.”

HB not only hasn’t lost since, going 8-0-1 over its last nine games, but it hasn’t allowed another goal since its 1-0 loss to Hanover on Sept. 17.

“I think a mindset switched,” senior Ashley Disco said. “Those games made us realize that not everything is handed to us and we do have to work for what we want. I think during practices, some confidence has come back. We all have each other’s backs.”

The Cavs (11-2-1) also had to anticipate getting their opponents’ best game and learning how to not let that affect the way they played.

“We have to expect that teams are going to play us hard,” HB coach Greg Cochrane said. “If you want to be a top team, you have to expect teams are going to play you like a top team. We didn’t play accordingly in those games, but the opponents took it to us, for sure. They took advantage of us not playing up to our standards.”

Those standards have been high since Cochrane took over as head coach before the 2022 season, and in each of the previous three years, the Cavs have been a consistent playoff contender. They reached the semifinals in that first year and the quarterfinals in 2023 before last year's title.

But while this year's senior class marks the first that has played for Cochrane throughout high school, there were a lot of additions to the lineup.

"The transition from last year definitely hit us hard in the beginning," Disco said. "A lot of our starters aren’t new to the team, but are new to the starting lineup. Getting used to playing the whole game and getting used to playing different positions took us more time at the beginning of the season than we would have liked to."

Crawford was one of those new starters, who contributed a year ago, but didn't always play a full game. Now that everyone is on the same page, the Cavs feel ready to go.

"We have great unity across this team," she said. "I think we’re more ready than ever. We have such a great bond on this team. We trust each other, we work together, and I think that with that, we’ve got this."

With two home games – Plymouth on Oct. 15, Souhegan on Oct. 17 – left on the regular season schedule, HB is in line to grab one of the top five seeds in the division and the first-round bye that comes with it.

“Our goal is to get that bye and be one of those top five teams,” Cochrane said. “That’s our goal every year. How we’re going to get there, it’s not going to be anything pretty. It’s going to be gritty and hard work, and that’s what it’s going to take.”