About a week ago, the Wareham High field hockey team didn’t have a coach.

“I couldn’t see Wareham not having a field hockey team,” said Suzanne Modlowski, who stepped in as the new head coach on Monday, Aug. 18.

Modlowski was approached about the job by her daughter Katie, a 2013 Wareham High School graduate and former four-year player. Katie heard the team was in need after its former coach, Sue Tabor, resigned after last season, in which the team won just two games.

Modlowski won’t be alone at the job, however. Since Katie was already friendly with some of the players, she recruited her as an assistant coach.

“She has a lot of insight,” said Suzanne. “She knows some of the girls—she played with some of the seniors. They wanted her to coach, but obviously, she’s younger.”

“I like having her by my side,” she added. “She’s my right-hand person.”

Suzanne, who coached field hockey at Old Rochester Regional Junior High last year, said the team had only practiced twice as of Sunday, Aug. 24, but so far, she’s been happy with the results.

She said the team has a lot of newcomers and only two seniors.

One of those seniors, Ariel St. Germaine, is a former cheerleader-turned-goalie who will make her debut with the field hockey team this year. The other, Maddie St. Julian, returns for another season and will bring some experience to the young group.

“We have a very young team,” said Suzanne, noting there are currently 14 players signed up. The ideal number is usually around 20 players.

Suzanne said she’s still trying to get a feel for some of the players.

“I don’t know some of these girls’ abilities, but my goal is to have a good season and let them have fun out there. They’re a good group of girls and they seem so far to work well together.”

As for the mother-daughter angle, Katie said she and her mother complement each other nicely on the the field.  Katie, at student at Bristol Community College, said Suzanne is very good at helping and teaching, whereas Katie is able to look more at the bigger picture of the games themselves.

"She's very detail-oriented," said Katie of her mother.  "She's very good at helping and teaching."

As for a career as a head coach, Katie said it's something she'd love to do, though it's required that she be 21 to do so.

"That would be ideal," she said.

The field hockey team will play its first game on Wednesday, Sept. 3 at Fairhaven High School. The home debut will be Friday, Sept. 5 against Apponequet High School.