The Los Altos field hockey team looks promising this year, according to head coach Mary Donahue.

“We are in a very tough Mt Hamilton division of BVAL, but we have a solid core of juniors and seniors and quite a few players who played club in the off-season and improved their skills,” Donahue said.

Key players are senior co-captains Teresa Fabbricino and Erika Schoner, the team’s starting goalkeeper. Lauren Peterson is another solid contributor who makes plays all over the field. Laura Murphy helps form a stout defense and forwards Vanessa Kirchhofer and Julia Sauerhaft are other key players who help facilitate the offense. “The distribution of these experienced players throughout the field should really help us execute on offense and play strong, pressure defense,” Donahue said.

Los Altos will be hoping that the combination of a strong offense and fast defense will help the team reach its goal of reaching the CCS tournament this season. Things won’t come easy, however.

“The obstacles are mainly that our division is filled with really strong teams who are perennially very skilled and execute well,” Donahue said. “We hope to compete well by playing smart hockey and working hard off the ball on offense and pressuring quickly on defense.”

The Eagles will compete in the Willow Glen Jamboree Tournament and the Leigh Tournament before opening up league play against Los Gatos on Sept. 21.