When the opening whistle blows, the show begins. Under the guidance of new head coach John Gatsas, Salem High features a highoctane offensive unit that provides spectators an exciting brand of field hockey.

“We’re entertainers,” said Gatsas. “We’re up and down the field, we substitute everyone. My philosophy is that we have to play aggressively every game. We’re a talented team, and we’re getting better every time out.”

After dropping its seasonopener to Winnacunnet, 3- 0, despite keeping the game scoreless for 46 minutes, Salem reeled off three consecutive shut out wins. The latest win was a 6-0 decision over visiting Memorial on Friday, Sept. 11.

The Blue Devils controlled the ball in the offensive end most of the first half. Salem, up 1-0 thanks to an early Meghan Bench goal, didn’t begin to dominate until the final 10 minutes of the half.

Christie Cannone found the back of the net with 7:06 remaining and again at the 5:17 mark. Chelsie Muldowney gave the team a 4-0 advantage at intermission when she scored with little more than three minutes remaining.

Megan Martineau scored early in the second frame, and Bench, drilling a hard shot into the goal with 40 seconds remaining, capped the win.

While Gatsas is in his initial year with this group of Blue Devils, it isn’t his first time coaching at Salem. From 1986 to 2002, Gatsas was the team’s mentor before a stint at Memorial that ended last season.

Gatsas relies heavily on Bench and center midfielder Melissa Higgins, along with Muldowney, to lead the aggressive offense, but he also has a pair of strong underclassmen who spark the fastpaced Blue Devils.

Sarah Frahm and Brittney Hall anchor the right and left midfield positions for the coach, who said his team’s biggest weakness, for now, is that frenetic style of play.

“Our worst enemy sometimes is that we get overaggressive, but as the season goes on we’ll get better at that,” said Gatsas. “I like dominating and dictating to teams what we’re going to do. It took some time in the preseason to get used to it, but this team is ready and they’re dying to get back to the postseason.”