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South Jersey field hockey notes

The Audubon field hockey team is set to host West Deptford on Thursday afternoon in a Colonial Conference crossover game that should be a sparkler.

The Audubon field hockey team is set to host West Deptford on Thursday afternoon in a Colonial Conference crossover game that should be a sparkler.

Audubon, which leads the Patriot Division, is 13-1 overall. West Deptford, second in the Liberty Division, is 12-1.

West Deptford has 10 shutouts behind senior goalkeeper Brooke Heininger, and Jamie Robinson has lit up the scoreboard. Robinson, the Eagles' all-time leading goal-scorer, has a knack for finishing her shots.

Audubon, which has eight shutouts, has Ariel Booth between the pipes, and Allison Kirsch leads in scoring.

"We don't want any more losses, so it should be a good game," Robinson said.

Eastern's corner unit. Scoring off corners was a big factor in Eastern's 4-0 win over host Shawnee last Thursday. Three of the Vikings' four goals were on corners, prompting coach Danyle Heilig to address that aspect of their game.

"We practice corners a lot," Heilig said. "I think that has to be a key to most people's game. It's something that we've always prided ourselves on as long as I've been coaching, and I think that our corner unit is solid this year.

"It's one of the better corner units that I've had."

That's saying something, because Eastern has won 11 consecutive state championships and this year's team is probably the youngest to fall under Heilig's guidance at the Voorhees school.

Senior Cori Allen, junior Julia Osisek, freshman Jade Dixon, sophomore Carly Celkos, and senior Brittany Evangelisti were all involved in the corners that paid off.

"I am excited that they are taking advantage of those opportunities," Heilig said.

Eastern had 14 corners in the game. Shawnee had four.

Cutoff date. On Wednesday, teams with a .500 or better record automatically qualified for the NJSIAA playoffs. Sub-.500 squads that wanted to go could have requested admission to the tournament by filling out the appropriate forms. Brackets are filled in order of winning percentage.

Fine-tuning defense. As the postseason nears, Florence, which has run away with the Burlington County League Freedom Division title, prepares for a sectional-championship run.

The Flashes have the top scorer in South Jersey in sophomore center forward Lexi Smith, and junior wing Kristin Tully adds to the scoring punch. However, there is room for improvement, defensively, as noted by coach Gina Smith after the Flashes defeated Maple Shade, 8-3, in a division clash Oct. 13.

"Defensively in the circle, we need to learn better decision making," said Gina Smith, Lexi Smith's mother. "We need to have faith in our goalkeeper, take responsibility and accountability for our girl. Once we get that down, we will be a much more organized defense.

"But we knew going into the season that the defense was going to be an ongoing learning process. So as long as we stay patient and as long as the girls stay coachable, we should be able to be successful at that task."

Florence has two goalkeepers, Kate Reed and Kirstie Smith (no relation).

The Flashes have two seniors on defense: Claudia Shafer and Brittany Logan. This is the first year that Logan has been designated to play defense and the second year for Shafer. The other two defenders, Sarah Spencer and Emily Awdiok, are a freshman and a sophomore, respectively. Reed is a sophomore, too.

"That's a young defense," Gina Smith said. "But with the middies and the forwards that we have, they're very good at coming back and being helpful."