No One Fights Alone: 16th Annual Drive Out Cancer Field Hockey Game 

by Anabelle Orth 9/23/24

The Cony bleachers were packed Wednesday night with fans gathering to watch a Cony vs. Gardiner field hockey game. However, an outsider looking in would never have been able to guess that this was a game between two infamous rivals. The usual animosity between the two teams was forgone as they battled a cause greater than each other: cancer. 

This was the 16th year that Cony participated in the drive-out cancer game. The game generates thousands of dollars for the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care each year. Over the past 15 years that Cony and Gardiner have been doing these games, they have raised over one hundred thousand dollars. These donations have helped many in the community with their battle against cancer. 

Each year, the team selects an honorary captain. This is someone who is currently battling cancer, beat cancer, or sadly passed away due to it. These honorary captains are honored in a twenty-minute ceremony that begins before the varsity game. They are asked to come onto the field and talk about their battle with cancer. This year the honorary captain for Cony was senior captain Natalie Dube’s grandfather, Russell Welch. Welch unfortunately passed away in 2017 from pancreatic cancer. Gardiner’s honorary captain was junior Davyn Swindells’ father, Matt Swindells, who was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin's lymphoma in February of this year. Fortunately, he is now in remission and was able to attend the game. However, as Welch is sadly no longer with us, his family went out in his stead and talked in his memory. 

Those in the audience who have had an experience with cancer, either personally or by someone in their life, were also asked to stand up. Assistant coach Gretchen Livingston remarked that “nearly everyone in the bleachers stood up.” Livingston also stated that the ceremony is a “very emotional experience” and that it offers a chance for the athletes to reflect on the privilege they have to be healthy and to be able to play. She expressed that going into the game, the mindset was to just “enjoy the moment.” 

As for the game itself, the Rams found success in their teamwork and motivation. Gardiner started off with an early lead, but Dube quickly scored to tie it up. Senior captain Abby Morrill then scored another goal to give the Rams a lead. After 2 more goals by Gardiner and 1 goal by sophomore Helen Dineen, the Rams went into the final 10 minutes of the game tied 3-3. Still determined, Morrill and Caroline Hendrickson scored two more goals to give Cony a 5-3 win over Gardiner, allowing Cony to keep the boot for another year. 

Junior Ashley Olson, whose grandmother was the honorary captain last year, remarked that a large part of the Rams success was due to “freshman Gabby Vachon, who took on up and coming D1 recruit Gabby Sousa from the tigers, out of the play, which helped bring us closer to victory.” In Dube’s opinion, the Gardiner and Cony teams are pretty equal in talent, so another crucial part of the Rams success was knowing the opposing team and the strategies they tend to use. But she believes the most important factor was “remaining positive and doing it for the cause.” 

For Dube, the game represented a way to honor her grandfather's legacy. “It felt really good doing it for him,” she said after Cony’s win, “it was really rewarding.” Matt Swindells, Gardiner’s honorary captain, was many of the athletes' middle school field hockey coach, which added another layer of emotion to the game, according to Dube. 

Doing it for the cause rang true for more than just Dube. Hendrickson’s father was the honorary captain two years ago, and for her, it is more than just a game. “The game reminds us high schoolers that we can give an hour of fighting when those suffering from cancer have given us years of it,” she stated, recalling how during the game she “felt down, tired, and like I was going to give up in the game, until I realized how much my dad and everyone who has been affected by cancer have fought and never given up no matter how much they wanted to.” And Hendrickson certainly did not give up. She scored the final goal for the Rams, securing their win. When her dad was the honorary captain, the team unfortunately lost the game, and this loss stayed with her. For her, she felt that scoring the final goal and winning the game was for him, in his honor. 

All in all, the game not only represented a victory for Cony, it represented the fight against cancer. The game managed to bring two rival towns together for the purpose of bettering the community and honoring the lives of those affected by cancer.