Fox Lane Field Hockey: A Rising Section 1 Power

BEDFORD, N.Y. -- Jacqueline Colao recalled the moment she realized Fox Lane was building a winning tradition in field hockey.

“I was watching the varsity play in the league championship game when I was a freshman,” said Colao, during a break in practice Wednesday. “I saw how good the team really was.”

Fox Lane would win that game and league title in the fall of 2008, coach Melissa Heyde’s first year. Colao and fellow senior leader Lexi Cannon would make the varsity team the following year and add to the continued progress Fox Lane was making in Section 1.

Colao, Cannon and their teammates want to keep that progression going skyward as Fox Lane embarked on a five-hour practice Wednesday. Cannon auditioned for the varsity team that year. Even though she did not make it, Cannon stayed on as the varsity manager, while also playing on the junior varsity.

“I took stats, was a team manager and felt like part of the team,” Cannon said. “The team that year made me love the sport.”

Cannon and Colao are both in their third year on varsity and the leaders of a Fox Lane team that qualified for sectionals last year, giving the Foxes three consecutive trips under Heyde.

“Coach has taken this program to the next level by winning league championships and taking us to sectionals each year,” Cannon said.

Fox Lane is planning on adding another league title and keeping the sectional run going this year, despite the graduation of a deep, talented senior class.

“The seniors last year were all very dedicated to the sport and they were all good athletes,” Colao said. “That love that they had for the game is contagious with us.”

This has also caught on with the underclassmen, including those who are trying out for varsity.

“A lot of the young girls are really good players who are committed to the sport and I am excited about that,” Colao said.

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