Field hockey
The Ocean City field hockey team is having a magical season.
The Red Raiders' record as of Oct. 7 was 8-0 with seven shutouts. The only team to score on them was Hammonton, which lost, 3-1, on Sept. 29.
Before the season started, first-year head coach Cory Terry didn't even know who her goalkeeper would be. However, sophomore Katie Johnson has been doing an excellent job along with an entirely new defense in front of her.
The Eastern field hockey team has a new record holder.
Alana Barry, a junior, recorded her 48th career shutout with a 1-0 victory over Washington Township on Oct. 4. The previous record was 46, according to eastern coach Danyle Heilig, who sent me an e-mail about this.
Heilig did not mention who held the previous record and when it was set, but I'll follow up with an e-mail of my own and let you know.
I turned on my computer this morning and was surprised to see that Rancocas Valley upset Florence, 3-2, Monday.
Our Score Service didn't even have the results. They were sent to me by Jeffrey and Gina Smith, parents of Lexi Smith, Florence's top scorer. Gina is also Florence's head coach.
RV went 3-1-1 in its first five games and then won the next five. The loss was Florence's first in 10 games.
Not long after I wrote about Rancocas Valley midfielder Brynn Gitt breaking the school's areer-scoring record set by Natalie Beckerman in 1985, I received an e-mail. Here it is.
"I was forwarded your articles about Brynn Gitt who has beaten my scoring record after 25 years. I think this is great news. I was also pleased to learn that she will be going to Iowa, a top Division 1 school. I graduated from Northwestern University in 1991 (staunch rivals to Iowa), but another great Big Ten School. As a former Division 1 All-American and Field Hockey player, it's nice to see that the girls are getting great coverage."
Natalie Beckerman
Mentioned: Rancocas Valley Regional High School
Not everybody who loses is a loser.
Haddon Heights' field hockey team, for example, fell to West Deptford, 4-0, Wednesday in a Colonial LIberty game.
West Deptford simply was too fast too the ball, which four players pumped in to the cage. Meanwhile, the Eagles' defense was like an impregnable wall.
Mark this date on your calendar: Oct. 2.
At 7 p.m. Saturday 11-time state champion Eastern is scheduled to play Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) for what promises to be a thriller. I mean, look what happened last year.
On Dec. 19, 2009 at McAleer Stadium before a large crowd on a rainy evening, Wyoming Seminary, the defending Pennsylvania state champion, eaked a 3-2 win over the Vikings on penalty strokes.
Mentioned: Eastern
Jasmine Bradley couldn't have picked a better time to score her third goal of the season.
Bradley slapped a shot past Cherry Hill West goal keeper Stephanie Carfagno in the secopnd period of their Olympic Patriot game Monday to tie the score, 2-2.
No one scored in overtime, so both teams left the field with a tie.
When I went to watch Sterling play a Colonial Conference interdivisional field hockey game at Woodbury Thursday I knew that I was going to see two struggling teams that had won a game apiece. So I figured that the competition would be evenly matched.
It certainly was. The game, deadlocked at 1-1 in regulation, shifted into overtime and that's when I saw something special by the home team.
The Thundering Herd stampeded Sterling in the 10-minute OT period, keeping the ball in the Silver Knights' end of the field and taking four shots, the last of which found the net for a scintillating, 2-1 victory with 2 minutes, 43 seconds left.
I may have rushed to judgement when I installed Washington Township as the No. 2 field hockey team in South Jersey.
The major factor in my decision was the way the Minutemaids held 11-time state champion Eastern to two goals and scored one in a 2-1 loss on Sept. 16.
I didn't take into account the fact that Eastern had outcornered the Minutemaids 17-7 and outshot them 15-7. The Vikings for some reason couldn't finish. Was that reason Township's defense? Probably not.
As I was preparing The Inquirer's Top 10 field-hockey poll, I was surprised at the number of undefeated teams I found.
As of this September 22 morning, there are eight that are part of the poll (two are under consideration).
Eastern, Haddonfield, Camden Catholic, Moorestown, Clearview and Ocean City made the Top 10 and Florence and Gloucester are under consideration.
