Whether you’re constructing a house or building a field hockey team, it’s important to start with a solid foundation.
Veteran Head Coach David Kerr is confident he has just that with the 2025 SMUS Senior Girls Tier 1 team. Midfielder and team captain Mackenna Brown is one of the best high school field hockey players in BC and she is capably supported by fellow Grade 12s Kate McQueen, Manon Denux, and Izzy Thomson – all strong returnees from the squad that won the Island championship and finished fifth in BC last year at the AA level.
There’s plenty of younger talent to supplement that experienced core, too. And the Blue Jags will probably need it as they make the move up to the AAA level this season as a result of their strong performances at the BC AA tournament during the last six years.
“I would say we have a core group of pretty experienced players,” says Kerr, who has coached the Blue Jags for 19 years. “It’s going to be tougher [at AAA]. We’ll be competing against bigger schools with more students and bigger athletes.”
It certainly helps to have a player the calibre of Brown, who is fresh off representing Canada at the Junior Pan American Games in Paraguay in August. In addition to her international experience, Brown is a team player who lifts up those around her. As a Grade 11, she was last year’s Nancy Mollenhauer Cup winner as SMUS’s outstanding field hockey player and her leadership and control of the field will be pivotal to the Blue Jags’ success this year.
“Mackenna is such a dynamic player – she can be everywhere and anywhere on the field,” says Kerr, who believes Brown is a generational field hockey player, drawing similarities to former UVic and Canadian international standout Anna Mollenhauer '17. “She does everything and is an inspirational player to others. I can’t speak highly enough about her.”
The returns of McQueen, Denux, and Thomson are also key, as each plays on a different line on the field and all will be important to helping the Jags find their balance of strength between the lines. Athletic Grade 11 midfielder Anna Beaudry is also expected to play a key role after captaining a BC provincial team this past summer at the U18 National Championships and Grade 12 Anika Keirn, an all-round athlete, brings fierce defending abilities to the back line.
Kerr expects the team to be very competitive this year, with the main AAA competition on the Island coming from Qu’wutsun. In addition to the already-mentioned players, how far the Blue Jags can go will be dependent on the progress made by some of the younger and less experienced players in the SMUS lineup.
Those include: Elspeth Rodger, a strong Grade 11 athlete who is returning to field hockey for the first time since middle school; Grade 11 returnees Bella Mattenley and Talia Klenz; newcomer Julia Nemitz, a Grade 11 boarder from Germany who has been a nice surprise addition for the coaching staff; and Grade 9s Piper Geddes and Olive Winters both of whom, despite their youth, bring athleticism and valuable Victoria Spring League experience to the mix.
The Blue Jags have two new goalkeepers – Ailo Streitel, who has dabbled as a keeper in previous seasons with the SMUS Development and Middle School teams, and Grade 11 boarder Emma Knoblochova, a newcomer from Czech who is a first-time hockey goalie but has played several other sports.
Assisting Kerr once again with the coaching duties are former UVic Vikes standouts and national champions Ali Baggott and Georgia Booker.
The Blue Jags actually began their season on the September 13 and 14 weekend with a 3-1 record and a third-place finish in the Friendship Cup, despite missing nearly all of their Grade 11 players due to school out-trips. They have since won two straight to open their Lower Island league schedule.
The team’s pre-playoff focus will be on its impressive tournament schedule, which includes the Ferreira Cup in Duncan and Shawnigan Lake, Sept. 26 and 27; the Independent Schools Athletic Association (ISAA) tournament at Crofton House, Oct. 3 and 4; the prestigious Bridgman Cup at UVic, Oct. 10 to 12; and the Golden Pumpkin tournament, Oct. 24 and 25 at Tamanawis Secondary in Surrey.
The Island AAA Championships will be contested on Oct. 30 at UVic with qualifiers advancing to the BC AAA Championships Nov. 12 to 14 at Tamanawis Park in Surrey.
SMUS is also fielding a Tier 2 Field Hockey team this season that includes more than 20 players and also competes in the Lower Island league. Including the 18 players on the Tier 1 team, nearly 40 girls are involved in the sport at the school this year. That team is led by coaches Leslie Moffat and Olivia Hawkshaw and stapled around a core of veterans including Mia Wong, in goal, and central players Lola Wuth, Maho Masuda and Mimi Ilnytzky.
“I remember in my first year coaching, we struggled to get 10 players out [total],” Kerr says. “We have large numbers now and I feel good about that. It says a lot about the program.”
Photo Credit: Heather Goodman
