By Jim Lockwood
Staff Writer

The field hockey team at the Derryfield School of Manchester has an interesting way of preparing for its Class M-S contests.

While the Cougars participate in traditional warm-up drills and pregame pep talks, it's what happens before on-field warmup activities that sets DS apart.

Prior to each match, players receive "psyche boxes" that help raise the collective level of excitement.

"Teams have different ways to pump each other up for each game," DS assistant coach Lindsey Jones said. "(Providing psyche boxes is) just a way of getting each player to do their best."

Inside each psyche box are candies, motivational sayings and helpful hints players should keep in mind as they compete.

When Katherine Dipastina of Hopkinton received her psyche box in school before the Cougars. match against Hopkinton on Tuesday, Sept. 27, she didn't know what to expect. She only heard about the tradition during preseason and hadn't received a box until just before lunch on the day of the Sept. 27 contest.

"(When I got the psyche box) I was like, 'Oh, I wonder what's in here'," said Dipastina, a freshman forward. "I got inquisitive as to what was in it. I wasn't really sure what to expect from it." Along with candy and helpful hints, she was told to score and be aggressive. The box also told her to "Hurt the (Hopkinton) Hawks."

Dipastina scored midway through the first half to put the Cougars on the board. DS won, 2-1, on a last-second goal by Molly Lyford.

Dipastina made a box for the junior varsity goalie. She decorated it with pictures of the netminder saving goals and filled it with healthy snacks and Powerade.

According to Dipastina, the Hopkinton game was the first time the Cougars incorporated the pre-game tradition this year. In 2004, the Cougars advanced to the Class M-S semifinals before losing to Winnesquam.

According to senior fullback Elisabeth Secora of Hopkinton, a number of key offensive players graduated from the '04 squad. As a result, DS began the '05 season utilizing the talents of freshmen, including Dipastina.

The ninth-grader said she benefited from learning new ways to maneuver around opposing players to create open passing lanes.

This year's club is working on improving its offense. In practice, DS does a lot of shooting drills and works on playing aggressively near the net.

On defense, the Cougars are working on defending corners so their opponents don't have an easy shot on goal.

The '05 Cougars include Concord's Lindsay Desfosses and Sarah Umberger; Hopkinton's Dipastina, Kate Richey, Secor and Jacquie Zimmerman; Bedford's Casiel Archdeacon and Alison Fink; Hooksett's Diana and Julia Maldonado; and Victoria Benech, Natalie Coviello, Hilary Fink, Laura Gelinas, Lyford, Kristi Migliori, Kristen Moran, Laura Satkwich, Kelly Schwartz, Kayla Stirken, Alice Townsend and Megan Tsai.

"Confidence is a huge thing," said the assistant coach, whose club was 6-0-2 through Tuesday, Sept. 27. "It gives them the motivation to keep playing hard and know what they are capable of doing."