The field hockey team joined the girls volleyball team in playing a Breast Cancer Awareness game this year. Volleyball plays a Dig Pink game annually, but this is the first year field hockey has done a similar event.

Field hockey raised $532 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in their game against Richard Montgomery Oct. 5. The team won 5–1, in part because the team was playing for charity, captain Claire Hisle said.

“There was definitely more energy because it’s such a good cause,” Hisle said. “We played a really good team, and I think we were all just ready to get out there and play our best.”

The girls volleyball team lost to B-CC 3–1 Oct. 18 in their Dig Pink game but still raised $1530 towards the Sideout Foundation, a national breast cancer research foundation which oversees the Dig Pink games.

Volleyball teams organize Dig Pink games at the local, city, county or state level across the country to raise money for breast cancer research. MCPS has taken part in them for years, as Whitman girls volleyball coach Kassondra Greis played in them throughout high school before graduating from Linganore High School in 2010.

“It’s not really about winning or losing, it’s more so about raising money for the cause,” Greis said. “My grandmother actually beat breast cancer, so it’s really close to my heart.”

Junior Lauren Oppenheim said that personal connections made the game more meaningful.

“I think all people are affected in some way because we all know someone who is affected by this terrible disease,” Oppenheim said.

The team was blown away by the fan turnout to the game, saying that it was unprecedented.

“The turnout was wonderful,” Greis said. “I think we raised more money from donations from people that came to the game and donated at the door than at concessions.”