Ellen Trinklein
Sports Editor
When freshman girls hockey player Olivia Hompe, had a hat-trick (hockey term meaning she scored three goals in one game) in last Monday’s game against Trumbull, she definetely proved her value to the team. The fact that she did this with a cast on a broken arm made her an easy pick for this week’s Athlete of the Week.
Olivia’s hat-trick led New Canaan to a 6-1 victory and their seventh consecutive win. Undoubtedly, this was one of Olivia’s favorite memories of the season, along with her team’s success in winning their preseason warmup tournament (a first for the team), where they were able to beat their rival, Darien.
Winning against Darien is unsurprisingly one of Olivia’s goals. In fact, it’s her motivation. “[My motivation] is the same for the whole team- Darien. They are our biggest rivals and we’ve got to keep playing hard in order to beat them. Especially after we lost to them last year. Even though I’m a freshman I still feel it. It’s the revenge motive.”
Olivia’s success is may be due to her determination. She trains hard, works out, and stays in shape even when the team doesn’t have practices.
More than anything though, she’s modest. As a freshman, Olivia is already the second top scorer and has helped the team become a success. In light of all this, she remains a team player. “My mom said play hard but make sure you love your team. When I’m older and I look back at my time on the hockey team, I’m not going to remember the score or my goals- just the fun I had with the girls.”