By Matt Stout
Staff Writer

Observer/Bruce Preston Salem junior Carolyn Malloy attempts to poke the ball away from her Manchester West opponent during Salem's 3-0 win over the Blue Knights on Wednesday, Sept. 13. The Blue Devils play at Pinkerton Academy on Saturday, Sept. 23.

The girls of the Salem field hockey team have every reason to think highly of themselves.

They also have another to stay humbled.

Before the 2006 season started, and weeks after it downed Exeter, another Class L power, in a double overtime win in a summer league championship game, Salem faced the Blue Hawks again, this time in a preseason scrimmage.

And for the first time in a long time, Salem stumbled, 2-0, ceding more goals in 30 minutes than it did through the first dozen games of the 2005 season.

Sure, they were missing starters, and yeah, the preseason can mean as much to a team as the dirt it runs on.

But even after a 6-0 start, a ridiculous 34-2 scoring margin and a 14-0 win over Nashua North on Friday, Sept. 15, the most lopsided win in Class L this year, the Blue Devils’ fantastic – but more or less, expected – start still reeks of humility.

“That was a really good experience and a wake-up call.

It gave us a ‘we-may-not-be-as-good-as-we-think-we-are’ kind of mentality,” Salem coach Carol Merchant said of the preseason setback. “So far it has (carried through). And we also have the mentality that every game is bigger than that particular day.”

That may help explain Salem’s latest feat of strength.

Each game, regardless of score, Salem sets short-term goals for itself: a shutout, drawing more penalties, converting more penalty corners.

Against Nashua North, the objective was a goal from a midfielder, one of the few things that had eluded the Blue Devils’ relentless offense to that point.

Junior midfielder and captain Ashley Mulkey checked it off Merchant’s to-do list, scoring her goal amid a flurry of others from Amy Dolce and Carolyn Malloy – who each had a hat trick – and Laura Malloy, Kyleigh Keating and Katie Bettencourt, who each had two.

Yet, Merchant is quick to point out that “we haven’t accomplished anything yet.”

After breezing through nearly half its schedule, Salem now prepares for the other top teams in Class L. It starts at Pinkerton Academy on Saturday, Sept. 23, during the Astros’ homecoming and continues against Exeter on Wednesday, Sept. 27, Timberlane a week and a half later on Oct. 7 and, finally, Winnacunnet to close the regular season on Oct. 13.

As of Sept. 18, those four teams boasted a combined 20-3 record, with 5-0 Winnacunnet and 6-0 Pinkerton standing as the only two undefeated teams beside Salem.

Last year, the Blue Devils and Pinkerton battled to a 0-0 draw.

This year, their midseason waltz may determine the early favorite for the state tournament’s No. 1 seed.

“When you match up with a team for one day, that’s not the challenge, really,” Merchant said. “It’s Mulkey challenging Malloy every single day. It’s our forwards challenging our goalie every single day. We’re always trying to build that competitive mentality on the field, and it’s not easy.”

Neither will the road through the rest of the season. Salem, though, boasts some nice surprises – Laura Malloy, who saw limited time last year, leads the team with 17 points, and Michaela Galvin has transitioned from forward to midfielder better than Merchant hoped.

“They move the ball really nicely, they don’t dribble the ball much on the field and they make nice passes,” Manchester West coach Nicole Ledoux said of Salem following its 3-0 win over the Blue Knights on Wednesday, Sept. 13. “They use the whole field and they shoot – a lot.”

Salem’s offense-is-the-best-defense approach is built upon its focus on game-specific details and constant drive to raise standards – as if they weren’t high enough.

“You know, find a way to win,” Merchant said of the thing that tops the list of all those shortterm goals her team sets. “And those are the things that help you find a way to win.”