Lancaster Country Day sisters Anna and Lily Fisher live on a farm. Tucked off on their property sits a barn.
It’s where the tandem has played some of its best and most physical field hockey. There’s not enough room — nothing but a patch of turf and a wiry net — to field a full game but enough to sample and strain each other’s mental and physical boundaries.
The drills and reps in the makeshift space have morphed them into the athletes they’ve become. No trait is more important than being the catalysts for the Cougars come fall.
Anna is in her swan song on LCD’s attack. Lily is enjoying her sophomore season as the linchpin of the defense.
“I’ve been looking forward to playing with Lily since I started (high school),” Anna said. “I love playing with the team, obviously, but I really like having Lily back on defense to help support me. Also, it’s just really fun to play together at practice. And even though we’re on the same team, there’s a little rivalry sometimes, which is fun. But I think the competitiveness between us really encourages the rest of our team to work hard and be competitive, too. It just increases the overall drive of our team.”
READ: 10 returning L-L League field hockey players to watch during the 2025 season
Anna’s latter statement is rife with proof. With the sisters sharing the pitch last season — for the first time in their careers — LCD authored a piece of program history, earning a District Three Class 1A opening-round victory for the first time by clawing by Hamburg 3-1.
LCD’s prior eight playoff berths — stretching to 1996 — ended with preliminary or first-round exits. The Cougars also claimed the 2024 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Four title following an undefeated (17-0) regular season.
“They have definitely changed the dynamic,” LCD coach Betsy Heim said. “Anna has been an absolute force since her freshman year, and same with Lily. I will say that they have helped make the players around them better and stronger. They lead by example.”
Leading by example begins with practice. Anna deems some runs in the barn “violent.” Lily is always attempting to stymie her older sibling when the Cougars are working on offensive sets.
Heim purposely pits her standouts against one another. Sometimes Anna gets the goal or makes the assist. Sometimes Lily stops the offense in its tracks.
“I think when I go against Anna, it’s just more of that mental thing that pushes me, because obviously she’s very talented,” Lily said. “She has over 100 career goals. She plays for (WC Eagles Field Hockey Club). She’s committed (to Penn). So obviously, she’s someone to look up to. And I play against her thinking that I really want to perform well. I want to show her that I can be like her. That I can play with her.”
The competitive level is tit-for-tat. Anna and Lily use that to their advantage.
When the whistle sounds, the dynamic duo has an unspoken understanding. Lily is always looking for Anna to kickstart the attack. Anna always has her eyes peeled for Lily if a ball escapes through the initial line.
They cross over for corners. Sometimes Lily is the helping stick in Anna connecting with the cage.
“Especially since we’ve been playing together for a year, we already have so much cohesion between us,” Anna said. “We know how each other plays. She knows where I’ll be cutting on offense. She knows what kind of ball I can receive and knows what kind of moves I can do to get around a defender. With that being said, I know where to go for her to complete a pass. Or even when I think she may get beat, I know when to run back and help her.
“I think just knowing each other so well and growing up playing together, it has a part in that sort of chemistry that maybe other teammates don’t have.”
Sister symmetry. Sibling solidarity. Whatever seems fit, works in characterizing the Fisher one-two punch.
LCD has outscored its opposition 27-1 through four contests this fall. Anna banked 14 goals while Lily deposited two.
“Sometimes we’ll take it for granted,” Anna said. “We have a lot of new players on the team, so we’re just really lucky to have each other to really raise our level of play.”
Their teammates, however, digest the sibling showdowns with pleasure. The Fishers’ desire trickles down through the roster.
“When they’re going against each other, they have to work extra hard to beat the sister,” Heim said. “And it is really funny to watch them go up against each other, because it usually ends with one of them getting frustrated or with a friendly kind of scream. The other players around them love to watch them.”
When the curtain closes on the prep circuit, Anna and Lily don’t want their accolades and stats to loom large on their legacy. Keeping the Cougars’ competitive veins pumping and the standard high is of utmost importance.
In many facets, they’ve already created a precedent.
“I’m really hoping that our success encourages younger girls,” Anna said. “I hope it makes them more enthusiastic to join field hockey, or even just learn more about field hockey.”
The Fishers, for most of their playing careers, have had onlookers. But the roots of their field hockey supremacy began in a barn with closed windows, a patch of turf and the echoes of friendly complaints and grunts as Anna scored or Lily halted.
It’s where they got physical. Where they became the Cougars’ catalysts.
“I really like being able to connect with Anna on something,” Lily said. “It’s really special.”
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.