Ava Lowicki finds herself in a unique situation this fall. After her family moved from the Eastern Shore to Harford County, she’s suiting up for Fallston field hockey and joining a perennial state title contender.

Where’d she come from? Pocomoke, the Worcester County school that’s beaten the Cougars in three consecutive postseasons. She was the thorn in her new teammates’ sides for years and is now looking to lead them past her old squad.

“I was very nervous,” Lowicki said. “I wasn’t sure how to do it and how it would go.”

But, Lowicki said, she’s feeling more comfortable with Fallston as the season goes on. Lowicki has two goals through the Cougars’ 3-2 start to the year. The junior recently spoke with The Aegis about that transition, her early impressions of her new team and if she’s looking forward to facing her old one.

Thinking back to your time with Pocomoke, what do you remember about what it was like playing against Fallston?

Playing with Pocomoke, they had a really big organization already set. What they have going was already strong, but I definitely feel like Fallston was huge competition for Pocomoke. They were definitely surprised to hear that, that Pocomoke, with state championships, was actually afraid to play Fallston. It came down to that being usually our state semifinal game every year, so we were always prepared to play them. It was never an easy game, and people will be, like, shocked when I say that. But it was always a hard game. A bunch of subs, people were getting tired, people getting very frustrated trying to get through Fallston’s defense. It was definitely a struggle.

What were those early conversations like — I imagine the first couple practices or first days of school, everyone was asking you about what it was like playing against us.

Yeah, so for the most part, they kept asking me about what they were about and what my experience was there. Everybody wanted to know about Pocomoke, everything about it. They’re trying to get as much intel they can for Pocomoke if it comes to playing them again for the fourth year.

Is there any on-field stuff that you’ve been able to provide insight on, like ‘when we played you guys, we would do this’?

I have a few good friends down at Pocomoke and I have definitely heard about — they have a lot of new girls. So I’m able to help out a lot more with who’s gonna be taking a shot, who’s most likely to go do what, who’s gonna be on post, and I’m also aware of a few of their corners. So that’s been helpful. I do feel as if I’m able to help out a little bit more with at least knowing the girls more and explaining, like weaknesses and strengths and everything like that.

On the flip side of that, has your new team and new coaches told you about what it was like from their perspective playing you guys at Pocomoke?

Oh yeah. A few of them were asking me about their goalie, and they told me a few of the people or a few plays that they remember and everything like that. And obviously they would go back to telling me about how they play them every year and how it’s always been a battle. I know that [head coach] Jackie [Cummings] is ready to beat Pocomoke this year.

Is part of you looking forward to potentially facing them?

I’ve been hoping for it all season. I am praying that for the fourth year it will happen.

Obviously Fallston and Pocomoke aren’t in the same conference and you don’t see each other in the regular season. But it’s become a real postseason rivalry. Is there a sense of that between the teams?

Yeah, I do feel that. And the same goes for Pocomoke. I feel like Fallston is their biggest rival.

What’s been like playing with Layla King and getting to know her?

I love Layla. She’s a great player, but she’s also a great teammate. She is such an easy person to look up to and if you’re ever down on yourself, she’ll always bring you up. So it’s obviously been really great, especially coming to a new team and I’m able to experience that. Having Layla King is a huge thing for us because everybody finds out, like, ‘Oh, they have No. 2, Layla King can do this and that,’ and they definitely get in their heads a lot about her.

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