Florence
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.
I wasn't surprised that New Egypt bombed Audubon, 5-1, Monday in Round 2 of the Central Jersey Group 1 tournament.
Audubon, seeded sixth, squeaked by 11th seeded Gloucester Catholic, 2-1, last Thursday. GC had won only two games; the Green Wave had won 13.
Okay, anything can happen in the playoffs. But Audubon needed to win more convincingly going into the next round against New Egypt, the third seed and defending Group 1 champ.
M ZEBE
Brian Whitman scored with 3 minutes, 12 seconds left in the second half, wrapping up Haddon Heights’ 2-1 Colonial Conference interdivision thriller over visiting Haddon Township (9-2).
Heights (8-1-1) led by 1-0 at halftime on Austin McCleary’s goal, and Township knotted the score after halftime with a goal by Nick DellaValle. Whitman’s game-winner was a 12-yard shot after an assist by John Hagerty.
Goals in the first half by Paden Dietrich, Daulton Law and Chris Steiner were enough for Overbrook to hang on for a 3-2 win at Lindenwold. The Lions’ Orlando Askie scored his ninth and 10th goals of the season.
Olympic.
Brian Reynolds’ goal with just 1:10 left was all the offense Shawnee needed to subdue visiting Cherry Hill East, 1-0. Renegades goalie Mike Hartman made nine saves.
M ZEBE
Gloucester remained unbeaten and locked up the Classic Division crown by beating host Glassboro, 4-1, in a Tri-County Conference clash.
Angela Harris had two goals while Melanie Carpenter and Erika Mecchella each contributed a goal and an assist for the 10th-ranked Lions (11-0-1, 8-0).
Burlington County.
Lexi Smith’s second-half goal made Florence a 1-0 winner at New Egypt, and left the teams tied atop the Freedom Division.
Colonial. Kim Flacco’s second goal of the day, on a breakaway with two minutes left in overtime, gave Haddon Township a 2-1 triumph at Haddon Heights.
Mentioned: Glassboro High School | Haddon Township High School | Buena | Florence | Gloucester | Haddon Heights | New Egypt | Vineland
M ZEBE
Haddonfield girls’ soccer coach Glenn Gess celebrated his 200th career victory yesterday, when the ninth-ranked Bulldogs shut down visiting Gateway, 3-0, in a Colonial Conference match.
Gess is in his 6th season with the Bulldogs after eight years at Haddon Township.
Emily Grabiak scored twice and Tina Davis made four saves for Haddonfield, which improved to 11-1-1 overall and 9-0-1 in conference play.
Burlington County.
Palmyra participated in its fifth overtime contest of the season, with Amanda Bailey and Christina Klave supplying the scoring and Aubrey Babb making a dozen saves as the host Panthers (1-6-3) played Florence to a 2-2 draw. Amanda Lutz had both goals for the Flashes, including the tying score on a breakaway midway through the second half.
Mentioned: Glassboro High School | Haddonfield Memorial High School | Egg Harbor Township | Florence | Gateway | Palmyra | Wildwood Catholic
M ZEBE
Rancocas Valley’s season-long reign as the top-ranked boys’ soccer team in The Inquirer’s South Jersey ratings may be in jeopardy after Delran knocked off the visiting Red Devils, 1-0, Wednesday.
The Burlington County League Liberty Division rivals were locked in a defensive struggle until the Bears’ Ali Gocmez scored off an assist from Jackson Machado with 4 minutes, 8 seconds left in the second half.
Brad Schmidt made four saves and protected the goal for the Bears (8-2), ranked No. 9 in South Jersey. The loss was the first for Rancocas (8-2), which built an 11-8 edge in shots, since a 3-2 setback at Salesianum (Del.) on Sept. 19.
Also in Burlington County, visiting Burlington Township (2-5-3) held No. 8 Cinnaminson (5-2-2) to a 1-1 standoff. The Pirates’ Eric Tricocci scored in the fifth minute, and Township knotted the score on Kwincy Brown’s goal with 11 minutes left before halftime.
Matt Peak managed an unassisted goal in the seventh minute, and Holy Cross’ defense made it stand up for a 1-0 win over visiting Northern Burlington. Goalie Mario DeClerico made 14 saves.
Mentioned: Rancocas Valley Regional High School | Holy Cross High School | Cinnaminson High School | Absegami | Atlantic City | Burlington City | Burlington Township | Delran | Florence | Gateway | Haddon Heights | Hammonton | Maple Shade | Moorestown Friends | Northern Burlington | Paul VI | Pemberton | Riverside | Vineland | Willingboro
M ZEBE
Ally Stathius opened the scoring with 15 minutes left, off a pass from Tara Ballay, and Ballay added an insurance goal on a breakaway with eight minutes to go as visiting Delran (4-5, 2-4) upset eighth-ranked Rancocas Valley, 2-0, in a Burlington County League shocker.
Breanna Brown made 10 stops in shutting down the Liberty Division-leading Red Devils (7-2, 5-2).
In other Burlco action:
Kathleen Wolff’s shot from the top of the box in overtime found the net, making host Moorestown a 4-3 winner over Bordentown. The teams combined for five goals in a wild second half, which saw the Scotties’ Alexis McTamney score twice.
Mentioned: Rancocas Valley Regional High School | Holy Cross High School | Cherry Hill High School East | Haddon Township High School | Moorestown High School | Mainland Regional High School | Audubon Jr./Sr. High School | Absegami | Bordentown | Delran | Egg Harbor Township | Florence | Gateway | Haddon Heights | Lindenwold | Maple Shade | Northern Burlington | Sterling | West Deptford | Willingboro | Overbrook (NJ)
M ZEBE
Host Kingsway avenged a season-opening setback and gained a share of the Royal Division lead by handing sixth-ranked Clearview its first loss, 2-0, yesterday in Tri-County Conference field hockey.
The Dragons (8-3 overall, 5-1 conference) prevailed on goals from Stephanie Toomey and Christina Wallace, assists by Emily Poole and Aubrey Coleman, and shutout goaltending by Becca May (14 saves).
Alyssa Wileczek turned aside 21 shots for the Pioneers (10-1, 5-1), who opened the 2009 campaign with a 2-0 defeat of Kingsway on Sept. 14.
In other Tri-County action:
Alyssa Cooper and Emily Bucher each had a goal and an assist for 10th-ranked Gloucester (10-0-1, 7-0), which moved closer to clinching the Classic Division crown with a 3-0 win at Salem.
Mentioned: Clearview Regional High School | Holy Cross High School | Moorestown High School | Mainland Regional High School | Kingsway Regional High School | Absegami | Atlantic City | Delran | Delsea | Egg Harbor Township | Florence | Gloucester | New Egypt | Northern Burlington | Oakcrest | Ocean City | Palmyra | Pemberton | Riverside | Salem | Woodstown
Sandy Spieczny
Breanna Brown scrambled in front of the Delran goal and made 24 saves, providing the spark that carried the Bears to a 1-0 upset at town rival Holy Cross Monday in Burlington County League girls’ soccer.
With Brown’s flawless effort giving the Delran (3-5) defense its first shutout of the season, Taylor Umbrell scored with three minutes to go before halftime against the Lancers (6-3-1).
Umbrell converted a pass from Christina Rietzen for the Bears’ sixth goal in eight games.
Also in Burlington County, Becky Forcellini’s hat trick powered host Cinnaminson’s 5-1 win over Maple Shade.
Mentioned: Holy Cross High School | Cinnaminson High School | Haddon Township High School | Cherry Hill High School West | Haddonfield Memorial High School | Moorestown High School | Mainland Regional High School | Absegami | Burlington Township | Delran | Eastern | Florence | Gateway | Haddon Heights | Lindenwold | Maple Shade | Millville | Ocean City | Paul VI | Sterling | Willingboro | Washington Twp.
Sandy Spieczny
Eastern’s defense allowed two shots at goalie Scott Koehler, who claimed his fourth shutout in the Vikings’ last five games by blanking visiting Shawnee, 4-0, Monday in an Olympic Conference matchup of top-10 boys' soccer teams.
Nick Tierce scored two goals, Joe Bertucci and R.J. Biondi had one each, and Rob Wiacek had two assists to fuel the offense for Eastern (7-1-1), ranked No. 8 in South Jersey by The Inquirer.
Seventh-ranked Shawnee (7-2-1) was thwarted by Koehler and the defensive quartet of seniors Michael Pallante and Marc Forman, junior Kwasi Archeampong and sophomore Kyle Bennett.
Mentioned: Cinnaminson High School | Haddonfield Memorial High School | Moorestown High School | Cherokee High School | Shawnee High School | Audubon Jr./Sr. High School | Absegami | Burlington Township | Collingswood | Delsea | Eastern | Florence | Gateway | Haddon Heights | Hammonton | Lindenwold | Maple Shade | Millville | New Egypt | Oakcrest | Paul VI | Timber Creek | West Deptford | Willingboro | Woodstown
