Julia Samaha is a field hockey player who had a hat-trick against Stone Bridge on September 20th.

Question: What were you thinking after each goal you scored?

Samaha: After losing pretty badly to stone bridge earlier in the season, it felt pretty good to score just one goal against them— I never expected to score two more; after the first I was very happy since our team was now ahead. For the second goal, I was at first surprised since the ball was about to go out of bounds and I had to dive to save it. When I scored the third goal (assisted by Maddie Beal) me and Maddie ran and jumped on each other and screamed; we were so excited that we were ahead by two.

Question: For the field hockey team it’s been a season of inconsistency, what lessons do you think you and the team can take from this year and apply both to the rest of the year and to next year?

Samaha: Recently we’ve been super focused on team bonding, it’s helped our team get closer and be more motivated on and off the field and definitely going into each game pumped and with a positive mindset. Now, we’ve realized how great we can play and we want to achieve what we’re capable of.

Question: How did you get into field hockey and what was the thing you liked most about the sport?

Samaha: When I moved to VA in 4th grade I was exposed to field hockey by a lot of my friends because it wasn’t big where I used to live so I wanted to try it. There’s a huge emphasis on having a close-knit team and that affects how you play.

Question: Are there any pro/college field hockey players that you like watching/model your game after?

Samaha: There aren’t any players in particular but I like to watch the USA field hockey team as a whole.