Jahna Driscoll started from day one as a freshman last season on Greene’s varsity field hockey team. That club finished a perfect 20-0 to win the Class A state championship, and Driscoll was an integral cog in one of the school’s most dominant teams ever.
The fact that a freshman was starting on such an outstanding team was cause enough to take notice. More impressive is that Driscoll was placed on the field in a position completely unfamiliar to her.
Due to an injury to starting center defensive back Abbey Wentlent, Driscoll was moved to the center of the defense. “She’s someone who just comes in and wants to do her job,” said Greene’s longtime head coach, Sue Carlin. “Last year proved that. She’ll play wherever we put her, and never once did she mention that she had not played defense in her life. She asked a lot of questions, and just played like she had been there before.”
With the graduation of several high-scoring players, Driscoll was shifted back to the front to fill the scoring void left by graduated captains Erin Smith, Chrissy Conroe, and Anna Crumb.
The Trojans have rolled to eight straight shutout victories, and none of the contests have been remotely close. Driscoll, who found herself on offense on penalty corners last year, is now playing the forward line full time, and she’s making the most of any and all scoring chances. Driscoll has multiple games with two or more goals, and has a team-high 18 goals – better than two a game. Her season-long excellence on perhaps the most dominant team in the area has earned her our weekly honor as Smith Ford LLC and Giant’s Warehouse/Evening Sun Athlete of the Week.
Driscoll began last week’s trio of games innocuously enough picking up a pair of assists in a 5-0 victory over Walton. She racheted up the offense in a 5-0 victory over Vestal – a team Carlin regarded as the toughest matchup to date. She picked up three goals in that game, then finished her week with an impressive four-goal outing against Afton last Saturday. Against Sidney earlier this week, Driscoll kept the offense coming with two goals and one assist in a 5-0 romp over Sidney. Over her last four games, Driscoll has nine goals and three assists. It’s an impressive run of scoring, and the best thing for the Greene program is that she is still just a sophomore.
“That’s the exciting thing,” Carlin said of Driscoll’s sophomore status. “ “She’s way ahead of her time. Not just physically, but emotionally. She’s very grounded.”
Carlin relayed a story of Driscoll in which she recently spoke to another media outlet. Driscoll’s comments typify her maturity as a player. “She was asked by the reporter if she thought our team would win another state championship,” Carlin said, who heard the interview. “She said, ‘I can’t say that right now, we have a lot of games left to play.’”
Driscoll sounds just like any coach who tries to keep her team focused on the immediate task at hand. Perhaps that focus could take Driscoll, the rest of the Trojans, and Carlin back toward another championship.
“They are all focused on the same thing,” Carlin said. “I count my lucky stars every day that I’m able to work with these kids. They make it easy.”