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Their slick maneuvers require nicknames.
MICDS junior Caroline Birkel and senior Ella Etherington have developed such a chemistry on the field that their combination passes require words beyond common field hockey language.
“We make up these weird terms for the moves that we do. The “Dizzy” is a spin, and I don’t even know what the “Shake and Bake” is, we just do it,” Birkel said.
Birkel led the Rams with 20 goals last season and Etherington tallied 20 assists. Both ranked in the top-five in the area in their respective categories.
“They like to try stuff and have fun,” MICDS coach Lynn Mittler said. “When you have kids that just want to try stuff and see what works and what doesn’t, those are the ones who are going to create something good.”
Their creativity blossomed during a roller-coaster 2022 season in which the Rams started with an 0-4-1 record. A lopsided loss to New Trier (IL) at the Gateway Classic was sandwiched between losses to Cor Jesu and Visitation, two teams that were a combined 2-20-1 against MICDS since 2013.
“There was definitely panic,” Birkel said. “There were thoughts of, ‘Is this season just going to be us getting our butts kicked? But at some point, we started to think, ‘What do we have to lose?’”
MICDS, which had missed the Midwest Tournament semifinals just once since 2005, began to embrace the uncommon position as underdogs and began to play loose and with creativity.
“Looking back, that mindset was very beneficial to our team,” said Etherington, who has verbally committed to play collegiately at Saint Louis University.
Etherington controlled the middle of the field, surgically delivering through-passes to the post and executing give-and-go passes with Birkel.
She generated 10 assists through the first 12 games and controlled the flow of play..
“I started off in the mindset that I was going to do whatever the team needed, and at the beginning of the season, we needed someone to direct the team and help build that team chemistry,” said Etherington.
She did not score her first goal until the 13th game of the season, but once she found the net, she did not stop. Etherington scored six times in the final five regular season games and MICDS continued to build momentum.
“Once we got later in the season, it was a win-or-go-home mindset. I had this fire and I needed to score,” said Etherington.
Finding the back of the cage happened early and often for Birkel, who netted five of the first six MICDS goals of the season. After a freshman campaign where she tried to find her niche, she scored at least one goal in 13 of 19 games as a sophomore, including a hat trick in the playoff opener against Westminster.
“That freshman season, I didn’t want to disrupt anything, but my sophomore season I had a lot more confidence. I had a lot more game awareness and I knew I had to take more shots,” Birkel said.
Those shots often materialized from a willingness to be creative.
“Take risks and trust your teammates. That (mentality) brought us back,” said Birkel, who verbally committed to play soccer at Stanford University earlier this month.
After going winless in its first five games, MICDS recovered to win seven out of its next nine, and the Rams had resurrected a seemingly lost season.
“Being the underdogs started to be fun,” Birkel added.
The Rams were heavy underdogs against top-seeded John Burroughs entering the Midwest Tournament quarterfinal, but they played relaxed and caught fire. Birkel scored early, Etherington added an assist and the two teams ping-ponged seven quick goals to open the game.
“We have a lot of competitors on this team, and clearly, they put everything out there against Burroughs. And it was a blast,” Mittler said.
But MICDS never could find the equalizer, lost 4-3 and missed playing in the Midwest Tournament semifinals for only the second time in 17 years.
“We were so close,” Mittler said.
The Rams enter the upcoming season with 12 seniors and heightened determination.
“One of the best things is coming off an unsatisfying season because they just spent nine months stewing about it,” Mittler said. “(The seniors) are eager to be the leaders and they are eager to get everyone to want to have fun and enjoy themselves.”
And that fun mindset is modeled by Etherington and Birkel, who are ready to create more dizzying moves to add to their catalog.
“You need a couple players who are willing to put themselves out there, risk embarrassing themselves and then show everybody that you survive. That’s really lucky when that happens,” Mittler said.
Birkel added, “Because of our loss last season, I feel like people still see us as underdogs. I’m excited for our first game to go out and show what we can do.”
But don’t try to attach a name to what they show. They will gladly handle that part themselves.
