The Princess Margaret Mustangs had a good start to their field hockey season at the Oliver Fall Festival.

The senior Mustangs went 2-0-2 last weekend in the tournament, which featured 12 teams from around the province.

Coaches Makeena Hartmann and Joycelyn Legary said they are excited with how well the team performed, given that over half of their players are new to the game.

“Our international students, Yuki Tange, Chihiro Kondo and Haruka Kubo, who have never played the game before, did an excellent job of learning quickly,” said Hartmann.

The Mustangs opened the weekend with a 2-0 win over Chilliwack. Brook Scott and Christine Maurer scored the goals with assists by Jeanine Florence. The coaches said they received strong defensive play from Alyse Kohler-Mergel and Alice James.

Their next two matches both ended in a 0-0 deadlock against Maple Ridge and Mt. Boucherie. Mustangs’ coaches said that forwards Susie Robinson, Sammy Fehr, Scott and Maurer kept up the pressure in the games while Kara Stayberg, Emily Hollenbeck and Kayla Francisco had strong defensive games.

The Mustangs got back to their scoring ways in their final game, defeating Oliver 2-0. Scott put in both goals and Francisco had an assist. Kohler-Mergel and James were lauded for their play on defence by the coaches.

“Goalies Annika Wright and Eden Pearce, both playing in goal for the first time, had the shutouts for all four games,” said Hartmann.

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