The players on the Stuart Country Day field hockey team have adopted “hustle and heart” as their mantra for the upcoming season.

Two weeks into preseason, Stuart head coach Missy Bruvik believes that her charges are living up to those words.

“It is going very good in terms of the kids learning, progressing and working hard everyday,” said Bruvik, noting that the team had a productive weekend trip to Washington D.C. in late August where it had two scrimmages and then went 2-0 in play day scrimmages last Wednesday.

“The work ethic is terrific. We have such a small group and you don’t always get that. I attribute that to the upperclassmen, our juniors and seniors.”

With Stuart having ended 2015 with three straight wins to post a 6-12-1 record, the returning players are bringing confidence into this fall.

“I think the kids really feel that we are heading in the right direction as a program and they are as individual players,” said Bruvik, whose team gets its 2016 campaign underway by playing at Princeton Day School on September 8.

“In terms of their commitment to going to camp and playing club hockey, they are generating a lot of enthusiasm.”

Bruvik is very enthusiastic about the play of senior goalie Alexxa Newman, who emerged as a star last fall.

“Alexxa is looking outstanding, she has been playing dynamite,” asserted Bruvik. “She has a tremendous work ethic and the kids are so confident with her back there.”

Stuart will be looking for some good work on defense from junior Maddie Michaels along with a quartet of sophomores Priscilla Francois, Breasia Williams, Bey-Shana Clark, and Maria McBride.

“Maddie is really terrific at quarterbacking the defense, either in the midfield or as a center back,” said Bruvik, who will also look to use sophomore Millicent Brigaud and a pair of freshmen Joey Guan and Elaine Wang on defense.

“We will put Priscilla all the way in the back so hopefully we can utilize her speed. She has great feet. Breasia will help Maddie in the backfield. We also have Bey-Shena, a basketball player who came out for the first time this year. She is a smart athlete, calm and poised. Maria has nice speed in the backfield.”

Senior standout Isabelle Engel will spearhead the midfield together with juniors Elle Widger and Catherine Biava.

“Izzy has a lot of experience and is smart over the ball; she makes good decisions,” said Bruvik.

“Elle can also find the back of the cage and she is now playing some midfield for us. We also have Catherine in the midfield.”

Junior Ali Hannah, who has been sidelined with mono, should bolster the Tartans upon her return.

“Ali had a great summer of training; I think she is going to be one of our most versatile players,” said Bruvik.

“She gained a lot of experience over the summer at camps and working with club teams; we are going to see where Ali is best needed when she gets back.”

On attack, the Tartans boast a number of options, including seniors Jess D’Amico and Rachel Asir along with sophomores Meghan Liebowitz and Lauren Magnani and freshman Aditi Mehndiratta.

“Up on the line, we are looking for Jess, Rachel, and Meghan,” said Bruvik.

“We are rotating other kids in, like Lauren. We might rotate Catherine up on the line. Aditi might also get some time on the line. We are looking to balance our midfield with our attack.”

In Bruvik’s view, her team needs to play with an attacking mentality in order to have a big season.

“We have really taken advantage of all the work that we are doing and we are getting into the circle but we need to be creating more scoring opportunities for ourselves and finishing,” said Bruvik

“We also need to be starting out the first five to 10 minutes of every game, really into it mentally and focused.”