By Emily Bary ’14 

Co-Editor in Chief

It can be challenging for a first-year athlete to adjust to playing on a new team with new teammates, but Courtney Peterson ’17 saw at least one familiar face on the Wellesley squad when she first suited up for Blue field hockey. Her sister, Meghan Peterson ’15, plays midfield for the team and helped convince Courtney to come here.

Wellesley field hockey has perhaps its best chance in over a decade to take home the  New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) conference title, and the Peterson sisters are part of the reason why. Courtney has scored nine goals so far, and Meghan has chipped in 10 assists.

Following practice, the two sat down with me to talk about the rest of their season and why they like playing together. Excerpts of our conversation follow.

Emily Bary (E.B.): When did you start playing field hockey?

Courtney Peterson (C.P.): I started playing when I was going into ninth grade. I went to one camp that summer, and I tried out for my high school team and made varsity.

Meghan Peterson (M.P.): I also started playing competitively in ninth grade. In middle school I did two clinics, but when I got to high school I had to choose between field hockey and soccer and chose field hockey.

E.B.: Did you play on the same team growing up?

C.P.: We played on the same club team growing up.

M.P.: And high school team. We played on the same high school team for two years and then played on the same club team for two and a half years.

E.B.: Courtney, why’d you decide to play at Wellesley? Did you want to be on the same team as your sister again?

C.P.: When Meghan said she was coming here, I hated the idea of an all-girls’ school, but she said she really liked it and there were great opportunities here. I visited and did two overnights. My sister plays lacrosse too, so I talked to the lacrosse coach and she told me that I should play lacrosse too if I ended up coming. Being able to play two sports is pretty cool.

E.B.: What’s it like playing together?

M.P.: It’s fun and it’s interesting at the same time, because I think we definitely hold each other to different standards. No one really wants to get beaten by their sister or lose the ball against their sister, so I think when we go up against each other, we always go at 120 percent. If one of us does something wrong, we’ll tell each other.

C.P.: I think we really hold each other accountable for our mistakes more than we do with anyone else because if I tell her she’s slacking, she’ll be understanding of it.

M.P.: I think it’s the other way around. It’s usually me telling you.

C.P.: No, I tell you that too. I think you tell me what to do more but I think I still tell you what to do.

E.B.: What are your goals for the season?

C.P.: We want to win the NEWMAC championship. We’re first in our conference right now and if we win our game on Saturday, we go to the finals on Sunday. We want to make it to NCAAs.

M.P.: The way we make it to NCAAs is if we win the conference. If we lose, we still have an opportunity to get an at-large bid.

E.B.: What are your pre-game rituals?

M.P.: If it’s a Saturday game, no matter what, I’ll go to Dunkin’ Donuts to get a bagel and a coffee.

C.P.: I’ll go with her too. I don’t really have a ritual but the team meets in the mud room before our games to talk about what we want to do and listen to music to get pumped up.

E.B.: Thank you both.

The Blue will hit the field again on Saturday, Nov. 9, when they take on Babson at home.