Scholastic Notes

Tri-State region

New Jersey

NEW JERSEY STATE FINALS DEFY EMOTION

The four New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association public-school championship games were the kind of games which are a journalist's worst nightmare. The reason: in each match, the best and most compelling stories surrounded the losing team, meaning that most writers had to change their stories once the games ended.

Certainly, the big headline coming out of the Group IV state final was the fifth straight state championship of Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) with a 6-0 win over Flemington Hunterdon Central (N.J.), continuing the excellence the Vikings have shown during their National Federation-record 114-game unbeaten streak.

But Hunterdon Central was the more compelling story. Jennifer Sponzo was a state championship winner at Hunterdon Central in the mid-1990s when it sent players to Division I programs such as Dartmouth, Wake Forest, and Syracuse.

Sponzo has gotten back to the state finals as a coach in 2001 and 2002, only to lose both times to Eastern. The 2003 team was though to have the best chance of any of her teams to sink the Vikings' streak, thanks to a big, skilled lineup.

But Eastern was having none of it. The Walls sisters -- Missy, Lauren, and Ashley -- engineered two goals before the game was five minutes old. They, along with sophomore Meghan Bain and senior Cat Badolato, showed speed and stick skills in a singular performance.

The top team in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10, the Vikings merged their individual skills and team tactics to a degree which probably has not been seen in scholastic field hockey in the United States since the Escondido San Pasqual (Calif.) teams in the mid-1990s.

"It was unbelievable hockey," said head coach Danyle Heilig, who has still never lost a match at Eastern's helm. "What makes our team so good is that we teach what a lot of college teams are teaching. I am all for teaching beyond what normal high-school kids are taught, and I'm not afraid to do that."

In Group I, though Martinsville Pingry School (N.J.) -- winners of state titles in 2000 and 2001 -- were able to take a 2-1 win for its third championship after a year's hiatus, the more compelling story once again resided with the losing team.

That team was New Egypt (N.J.), making its first state championship final in only its third varsity season.

"No team from our school has ever even made a state sectional," said head coach Patti Nicholson, who used to coach the Allentown High feeder program at New Egypt Middle School before taking the Warriors' helm. "To go down to beat the South Jersey team was a bonus, and today was just a day to enjoy."

This very young New Egypt team did everything right in the Pingry match except for yielding a pair of first-half goals on Ali Clarke penalty strokes for stopping sure goals with the foot.

But the Warriors got within one on their own penalty stroke (for a foul to stop a breakaway) and pounded away on the Big Blue cage for the last 15 minutes of regulation.

"I'm proud that we gave them a game," said New Egypt head coach Patti Nicholson. "We just needed one or two more shots."

What also was compelling was the fact that her daughter Katie came up from the University of Virginia for the match, wearing the colors of Allentown High School, from whence she graduated.

She and a number of members of Allentown's 1997 state championship team not only saw the New Egypt match, but for the subsequent game between Allentown and Madison Boro for the state's Group II championship. The team members wore identical black fleece pullovers with red lettering on the back, standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the sidelines watching the new generation of Redbirds try to replicate their success.

"It was pretty cool having them come back and see us play," said Allentown junior attacker Lindsay Leck, who terrorized Madison Boro even while taking the ball towards the strong side of the Madison defense. "That made us want to prove ourselves to them."

But Madison took a 2-1 win, meaning that the more compelling story was, once again, with the losing team.

Ever since Katie Nicholson's graduation and the division of the Upper Freehold School District into two high schools, it was a given that the New Egypt program would do well, given the number of players from the 1997 team who resided in the new district, and Patti Nicholson's youth development experience.

But Allentown's road back to Lions Stadium was unexpected, especially given what happened to the team's coach. MaryEllen McCarthy had gotten hurt during physical education class in 2000, and the ensuing labyrinthine medical compensation claim had kept her out of work -- and away from the Allentown team -- until 2002.

Allentown was seeking to become the first team from the Colonial Valley Conference to win a state championship since 1984. But the Redbirds, which moved to the CVC in 1999, could not parlay a big win over West Long Branch Shore Regional to the school's second state championship.

"We're up-and-coming, and we're still learning as a team," McCarthy said. "They're getting better, and they'll be back next year. I'm proud of them."

"We lost just four seniors," Leck said. "but we think we can come back again next year. I think we have a really good chance."

For the winning Madison team, the day was about celebration -- including singing the Madison fight song and dedicating it to tournament director Rita Sweeney, a Madison graduate.

"Everyone counted us out," said head coach AnnMarie Davies. "But I think this was the best team that we've ever had here, even the team that beat Shore in 1995."

In the final match of the day, Moorestown (N.J.) ended a glorious day of hockey with a scintillating overtime field goal off the stick of Amy Lewis to beat Washington Warren Hills (N.J.) 2-1, for the Group III championship.

And though Moorestown garnered its 14th state title (tying the National Federation record with Severna Park, Md. and Wilmington Tower Hill, Md.), the compelling story resided with Warren Hills.

The Blue Streaks had previously reached the state finals four times since 1996, and there was hope within the team that this might be the year.

"Nobody gives North Jersey hockey any credit," said head coach Laurie Kerr. "I'm very proud of this team."

There was extra motivation with the news that former Warren Hills player Samantha Howard had the game-winning goal for Fairfax W.T. Woodson (Va.) in the Virginia High School League Class AAA title game.

But thanks to Lewis' goal, it was not to be. Playing with a broken thumb and a fiberglass cast on her left forearm, she stormed up the left side of the field in overtime, turned the corner, went along the goal line, drew the goalkeeper off her line, faked her down, and slipped the ball in between three diving players to end the match.

It might have been the most spectacular goal at the New Jersey state championships in more than a decade.

"When you get to this point, both teams are very good, and we knew we had to play our best," said Moorestown head coach Joan Lewis, Amy's mother. "What a year."

"I was just trying to get into open space, and once I found it, I did the best I could with it," Amy Lewis said. "I just go with what my head tells me."

NEW JERSEY PREP FINAL IS LATEST CHAPTER IN SUPERCLASSICO RIVALRY

Rarely has a second-place team ever been so happy after the full-time whistle.

Princeton (N.J.) Day School knew it had accomplished much during the 2003 season, despite a 2-1 loss to Lawrenceville (N.J.) in the latest iteration of one of America's greatest scholastic field hockey rivalries.

PDS had not expected to be in this position, not only coming from the sixth seed, but having to compete in the Mercer County Tournament at the same time, meaning that the Panthers could have been obligated to play as many as six games in nine days.

Jill Thomas also knew she had a team that gave up inches, pounds, and years to their rivals down Route 206, so she continued a practice that she started in the opening round of the MCT: substitute liberally.

It worked, but only to a point. PDS scored in the final seconds of play, but Lawrenceville had too big of a lead at the time.

"We knew we had to used fresh legs, and they game up big for us," Thomas says. "They played way better in the second half; that's the prettiest hockey I've seen in a while."

Lawrenceville, however, put together two halves of pretty hockey, seizing the initiative in the circle to put away the match thanks to goals from Lauren Alfaro and Susan Kirk.

"We hadn't won a (NJISAA) championship in about 10 years," said L'ville senior Ali Cavin. "It's the best feeling; I've been waiting for this ever since my sophomore year when I played in my first championship games."

"This team has evolved by leaps and bounds since the start," said Martha Gracey, the Big Red coach. "From every single game we've played, we took something away from that game and tried to turn it into something of our own."

So, when the Big Red dropped a 2-0 decision to Greenwich (Conn.) Academy the week before the NJSIAA final, mental notes were taken.

"You can really see it on the field," Gracey said. "You keep seeing those little pieces add on, and that's thanks to all those other incredible teams we've had the luxury of playing."

FORMER CARDINAL GETS A DIFFERENT PLUMAGE

Shannon Maruca tried to prove wrong the old axiom, "You can't go home again."

As Shannon Carroll, she played her high school field hockey at Lawrence (N.J.) and St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Upon graduation, she came back home, took over as head coach at Lawrence, started the town's indoor recreational field hockey program, and guided the Cardinals several times to within a game of the state championship.

But after getting married twice and starting a family, she was let go by the Lawrence district after the 2000 because she was not teaching in the district.

Two years passed. And then Maruca got a call from an old Colonial Valley Conference rival -- West Windsor-Plainsboro -- which had split into two schools.

"I had been looking to get back into it, but I wasn't looking for a job," Maruca tells The Trenton Times. "Marty Flynn (athletic director) from West Windsor-North called me and asked me if I was interested in coming back. It was perfect timing for me."

Indeed, her Knights were able to do in mid-October what no other team had been able to do -- beat Allentown (N.J.) in Colonial Valley Conference play.

Oddly enough, however, her only loss at WW-PN up to that point had been to --Lawrence.

"I have a lot of fond memories there. I will always love Lawrence," she told The Times. "But it was hard leaving there after coaching for 10 years. I worked hard especially with the rec program."

EASTERN CHOKES OFF WEST ESSEX'S CHALLENGE

In 2002, Lauren Walls of Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) couldn't finish her team's win over North Caldwell West Essex (N.J.) because an errant stick on an ill-advised tackle opened a cut in the hollow above her knee.

In 2003, all that was on Lauren Walls' knee were little black rubber shavings from the artificial grass at the football field at Livingston (N.J.), the perennial "home away from home" for West Essex's field hockey team.

She had the game-winner in Eastern's 2-1 win over West Essex in a match that, if you had seen only the second half, might have had you believing that Eastern -- the No. 1 team in the country in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10 -- had a much larger advantage on the scoreboard.

Why? West Essex, normally a very strong team on turf because of its speed and skills -- got very little chance to show those in the second term. Like a python, the Vikings encircled and clamped down on the center of the field, giving the Knights very little in the way of ball possession in its attacking third.

"We weren't really playing our game in the first half but we became much more aggressive in the second," said Lauren Walls, one of three triplets on the team. "West Essex was the most aggressive team we've faced this season but we battled."

But truth be told, for the second straight year, West Essex goalkeeper Alex Ruggieri was magnficent under tremendous pressure. The Vikings stormed the Knights' keep for the last half-hour, creating a number of international-class scoring chances.

For all of the slick skills on the attack end, Lauren Walls' game-winning goal in the 43rd minute was a simple slapper to the far side on the second option off a short corner.

The Knights, ranked No. 4 in the nation in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10, have some work to do in order to compete in what is usually the nation's toughest section, the state's Group II tournament.

"I don't think we took any risks or chances and the players didn't represent their positions with pride," said West Essex coach Jill Cosse. "The players, I felt, put too much on Hilary (Hartman, the team's center back) and Alex. And, on top of that, Eastern is such a well-balanced team. But we'll be fine."

MERCER COUNTY TOURNAMENT MAKES A WELCOME RETURN

Close games, heart-stopping endings, stories of courage.

Nope, not a reality series, but the nation's most competitive in-season field hockey tournament.

After a two-year absence, the Mercer County Field Hockey Tournament is making a comeback. And apparently, not just in field hockey, but a number of other sports like soccer which had dropped its single-elimination FA Cup-style tournament from the regional schedule.

Three factors have come into play when it comes to the reinstitution of the MCT.

One is the reformation of the 12-team Colonial Valley Conference into three divisions, giving each team four more non-league games -- a maximum of two of which count towards MCT participation.

A second is a brand-new artificial turf facility at Mercer County Community College, which, thanks to events like the MCT, a number of evening neutral-site games, and the 2003 Garden State Game, promises to become a field hockey mecca.

Finally, decisions were made as to the eligibility of post-graduate athletes in Mercer County Tournament play. In the 2002-2003 academic year, there was a two-school boycott of all-county events by Hightstown Peddie (N.J.) and Lawrenceville (N.J.). These two schools met in the last MCT final in 2000, and will apparently not meet in the return of the tournament, as the field hockey teams will join the boycott.

OOPS

Sarah Ostermueller, head field hockey coach for The Hun School of Princeton (N.J.) is so into her coaching that she will sometimes demonstrate what needs to be done on the field.

Things did not go as planned, however, in the 2003 preseason.

You see, Hun's home hockey field is at the bottom of a hill next to a creek. And that means the pitch can get waterlogged after even the slightest amount of rain.

It was on such a rainy day when Ostermuller made an unfortunate cut demonstrating a skill move to her team and she fell, breaking her leg. Oddly enough, this has become a motivational point for her Raiders.

"They've been hustling twice as much because they know I can't be in the middle of the field all the time," she tells The Princeton Packet.

New York

IN NEW YORK FINALS, GREAT TEAMS SEIZE THE MOMENT

Marathon (N.Y.) forward Heather Doran knew what she had to do when she got a flip pass on the left wing in the third minute of overtime of the NYPHSAA state championship against a game North Salem (N.Y) squad.

"We had to spread out as much as possible," she said. "You have to stay out wide in overtime; the more you do, the more you spread out their defense."

Doran's score from the weak side secured a 3-2 Olympicans win, which was the team's 68th straight victory. It was the school's third straight state championship and sixth overall for the central New York school, tied for most in state history.

But it wasn't easy. Marathon had a nail-biter the previous day against East Rochester (N.Y.). However, head coach Karen Funk has a class group of six seniors, the majority of whom had been on the field for all three of Marathon's recent state championships and the team's state-record 68-game winning streak.

"That probably gave us an edge, because they've been here and know what it's all about," said Funk. "They didn't want to come off this field 67-1."

The Marathon streak (pardon the pun) is also the sixth-longest in the history of the National Federation.

"You know," Funk said, "I'm not a record person. The win streak comes with winning a championship; it's after the fact."

The win nullified a solid effort on the part of North Salem, which had never advanced out of its section before.

"I have a bunch of players who are completely unintimidated by anyone," said a smiling head coach Jennifer Butch. "We have four starting sophomores who have no fear. And our seniors push them along."

One such senior, fullback back Jennifer Redzinski, was particularly outstanding. She interposed herself into the Marathon attack as if she knew what the Olympians were going to do.

In Class A, greatness was on the stick of senior corner striker Danielle Fiore. She slammed home five goals in the state semifinals and state championship game for Shrub Oak Lakeland (N.Y.), including both in a 2-0 win over Williamsville North.

"When Danielle's hot, you know it, and you keep calling her number," said Lakeland head coach Sharon Sarsen. "I wasn't going to call anything else. Yes, we have lot of options, and we know what we can do to counter their corner defenses, but there wasn't anything to counter."

Her long blasts made the goal boards at P&C Stadium ring with a resonance that has not been heard in some time.

"I don't think they knew (about me); they were playing after us (in the semifinals)," Fiore said. "For me, it was just 'grip-and-rip.' "

As dominating as Fiore was, Rye midfielder Taryn Prostano was almost equally outstanding, creating scoring chances out of the left and center midfield which went begging.

But when time came to select a corner play, head coach Kevin Kelly went to a couple of her senior classmates, striker Charlotte Van Wagenen and winger Katie Adams.

"It's called an 'elimination' corner," Kelly said. "We tried to eliminate the flyer and the trailer because we saw their coverage earlier."

The tip play to Adams worked well enough for Rye to take home the Class B championship with a 1-0 win over a game Windsor (N.Y.) Central squad.

NEW YORK STATE "B" SEMIFINALS AN EXERCISE IN COURAGE

Ever since the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYPHSAA) field hockey tournament moved from Skidmore to the arctic confines of P&C Stadium in Syracuse, the tournament committee has made a long weekend out of it.

There is an awards banquet on Thursday, semifinals on Friday, and finals on Saturday. If all goes well, of course.

But New York's field hockey fans know better. In 2003, snow wreaked havoc with the tournament. A predicted two-inch dusting became a four-inch squall, forcing fans to hold on to their tickets.

The can-do committee was able to get the semifinal matches in the "B" class in, despite wind and blowing, drifting snow. A dedicated crew shoveled and scraped the end lines, scoring circles, and 21-yard arcs while the teams figured out the best way to play the orange ball.

Rye (N.Y.), the evenual winners of the Class B championship, altered its game plan and began to strike the ball long in order to keep Southampton (N.Y.) chasing. Only when the Garnets played Windsor (N.Y.) Central in the championship did they utilize their individual skills to full advantage.

In the other semifinal, Windsor forward Janelle Christian prepared for the match by going to the Longstreth vendor table and buying a set of winter field hockey gloves.

And apparently, they worked. She scored two goals in 1:38 and her Black Knights upset favored Yorkshire Pioneer (N.Y.) 2-1.

"You can't play well if your hands aren't warm," Christian said. "We have never played in the snow before, but we got used to it."

But since Yorkshire is south of Buffalo, snow shouldn't have been a problem for the Pioneer Panthers. Problem was, neither team could score. That was until Windsor coach Joan Van Riper called a timeout in the 52nd minute, after the team earned a penalty corner.

Was the team talk destined for The Great Book of Motivational Speeches?

"She just told us to do what we normally do, and to work together," Christian said.

"If I knew what I had said, I'd say it again," Van Riper said. "But the girls said a couple of things in the timeout, so I knew they had the right thought process. This team is smart."

NANCY COLE IS BACK ... AND WINNING

It kind of reminds you of the pro football coach Bill Parcells: Coach achieves, coach burns out, coach takes year off, coach returns with rival team.

Nancy Cole has done a lot in 32 years of coaching field hockey with the Hun-Ya-Ha Sisterhood at Centereach (N.Y.). She built offensive powerhouses with four sisters named Fuchs (all Cougar captains), and coached generations of field hockey players to excel.

She retired from the school district in 2001, part of a mass retirement of a number of coaches that represented about 2000 scholastic victories and even more lives touched.

But Cole could not stay away from the sport. She became America's most famous middle-school hockey umpire, all while mentoring her replacement at Centereach, Laura Melfi.

Now, she's coaching about six miles away from her hold home, at Centereach's great Long Island rival, East Setauket Ward Melville (N.Y.).

And it turns out that Cole's lessons are being learned; in the first meeting of the Ward Melville-Centereach derby in 2003, Ward Melville prevailed 3-0.

"I have the same approach to the game," Cole tells Long Island Newsday. "The year off made me appreciate it more. I just have so much respect for the game. It makes me feel so good to be back, I don't even mind the bus rides."

She refuses to call her time off a "hiatus," rather, she calls it, "I retired and found out that I didn't like it."

Ward Melville got all the way to the state championship semifinal for Class A before falling 3-1 to Shrub Oak Lakeland (N.Y.).

MARATHON COMES THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH

Everything was right for Afton Central (N.Y.) in the finals of the Section 3 Class C championship if it ever wanted to derail the nearly three-season-long winning streak of Marathon (N.Y.).

The opposing Olympians had to survive a one-goal game in the sectional semifinal, and had also beaten Afton twice in the regular season, subjecting the match to the Jim Davis First Rule of Field Hockey.

But what could have mattered the most was that Afton was playing its match on its adopted home ground, the artificial turf at Oneonta State.

However, the No. 1 team in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10 showed its Olympic-sized talent and determination, pulling away in the end of a 5-1 victory.

Meghan Dean showed why she is part of a long line of Marathon greats like Carla Tagliente, Hilary Matson, and Tiffany Marsh, scoring a hat trick once teammate Danielle Diaz got things going in the 11th minute.

"That's always one of our goals, to see how quickly we can score in a game," Marathon coach Karen Funk tells The Oneonta Daily Star. "We know if we can get the ball first, the other team has to make some adjustments to catch up to us."

Afton, having been swept in the regular season, could not.

BONO PACES HERKIMER IN WILD START TO SEASON

Looks like Samantha Bono, an attacker from Herkimer (N.Y.) is poised to start terrorizing field hockey teams all over central New York.

She had four goals in a game at Mohawk (N.Y.), and had five goals in a wild 6-5 win over Cazenovia (N.Y.) in the semifinals of the Oneida Tournament.

Bono then followed with both goals in the Magicians' 2-1 win over Oneida in the final.

HOOSICK FALLS CENTRAL BATTLES OVERTIME BLUES

Some field hockey teams like overtime more than others.

Extra space, extra adrenaline, the though that every single touch means the difference between winning and losing -- these elements can shatter collective bravado or steel a group of seven young women into greatness.

Hoosick Falls (N.Y.) Central had a tough first overtime experience in 2003, losing in two OTs to Johnsburg.

But in the finals of the Hoosick Falls Invitational, the Panthers attacked in waves in the extra session, and Brittany Case convered a 3-on-0 in the 65th minutes for a 1-0 win over Bennington Mount Anthony Union (Vt.)

"It's always nice to win your own tournament," Hoosick Falls coach Denise Taber said to The Bennington Banner. "To win it this way makes it even nicer."

Pennsylvania

PENNSYLVANIA FINALS ARE DEJA VU

All you had to do was change the uniforms.

When the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) champions were all said and done, the same events took place. A District 2 team defeats a District 3 team in overtime.

But there was so much more than that.

In Class AAA, for example, Plymouth Wyoming Valley West, the No. 3 team in the country in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10 for the week ending Nov. 11, met Hummelstown Lower Dauphin (Pa.) the No. 7 team.

Wyoming Valley West possesses perhaps the finest player in the nation in senior Anne Marie Janus, while Lower Dauphin is coached by Linda Kreiser, who in 2003 was elected to the National Field Hockey Coacheas' Association Hall of Fame.

But the winning play went to Kelly Smith, who deflected a Lauren Stefaniak free hit into the cage like a bolt of lightning in the 63rd minute for a 1-0 overtime win.

"When I was a junior, (head coach Linda Fithian) would yell at me for swiping at the ball," Smith told the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader. "She'd tell me put your stick flat on the ground and let the ball deflect off it. That's what I did. I got really low and just did a one-timer into the cage."

It was the first goal Lower Dauphin had yielded since the end of the regular season.

"The goal that they had was just a quick counterattack," Kreiser told the Harrisburg Patriot-News. "There were some misses, and the ball just bounced their way."

Lower Dauphin had its chances once it absorbed a hammering at the hands of the Spartan offense. Its bend-but-don't-break defense, led by goalkeeper Erin Hanshue and fullback Laura Kastelic, repelled the Valley West attack with remarkable aplomb.

The Spartans, however, knew they were living a charmed existence, being a week removed from outlasting District 1 entry Upper Perkiomen in another overtime game.

"We were confident going into overtime because we had won an overtime game," Fithian told The Times-Leader. "That's all we talked about, we did it before and we can do it again."

For Mountain Top Crestwood (Pa.) overtime would come after trading goals with Oley (Pa.) Valley, a team which had won two of the previous six AA championships.

Make that a lot of overtime.

Pennsylvania rules call for two 10-minute and two five-minute periods of golden-goal overtime (rather than the NCAA's customary two 15-minute sessions).

Caitlin McCurdy and the rest of her teammates didn't mind the extra rest breaks, especially when she scored in the 88th minute to give the Comets a 3-2 win. The goal was scored, appropriately enough, on a rest break; Oley Valley's defense conceded a corner, which McCurdy ripped into the cage.

"It's like a dream," McCurdy told The Times-Leader. "I can't believe this game is over."

Neither could anyone else, including the loquacious sophomore Elizabeth Drazdowski. She thought she had won the game minutes earlier in the third overtime (the first five-minute session), but the umpires ruled against her deflection.

"I'm dead," Drazdowski quipped. "I think I ran 25 miles."

Oley Valley, which might have been the nation's best team in 1997, almost scored in that third overtime when Lynx captain Morgan Wolf broke in alone. However, Crestwood goalkeeper Lissa Munley did her best Peggy Storrar imitation, sweeping the ball away before the chance could materialize.

"She was all mine," Munley said. "There was no way that ball was going in that goal."

PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC LEAGUE ENDS AN ERA

Philadelphia George Washington (Pa.) tuned up for a very new reality in the 2004 season the best way it could -- by giving up a single goal in the regular season on the way to a 10th straight Philadelphia Public League championship with a 1-0 lead over Philadelphia Northeast (Pa.).

The new reality showed itself after the championship match, as Cliff Hubbard, the Director of Athletics for the School District of Philadelphia, presented the championship trophy for PIAA District 12. The Public League becomes a full PIAA member in the fall of 2004, and it is expected that the league could go from seven to at least 12 members.

In the championship, Kim Muschamp, all 4-foot-10 of her, had the biggest impact, scoring the lone goal in the 38th minute.

"I really don''t remember the goal," Muschamp told the Northeast Gleaner. "Every-thing was like a blur, but I know it went in."

From there, it was time for the George Washington defense to stop Northeast. Polly Morrison, Jennifer Eisennagel, Maria Holden, and Jenn Welte were a back four the envy of the city of Philadelphia.

"I am so excited about winning this title," Morrison tells the Gleaner. "When the final whistle blew, it was a great feeling. I love this team so much, we''re all close friends, and are always together during the season, during soccer season (in the spring), and on weekends. But there was a lot of pressure on us during the week going for ten in a row."

Head coach Carolyn Swanson has been at the helm for the last four Public League championships, after taking over from the legendary coach Dottie Walton, who coached the Eagles for the better part of four decades.

"This is it for our 4-year seniors. This is my fourth year, and we've been together the whole time," Swanson said after the game. "We just wanted to come out and play well. It was a total team effort. Our defense was snuffing it down, and our midfielders and forwards did just as well."

The game was a reunion of sorts Northeast head coach Mitch Kline and his niece, Hallie Klein. Thing was, Hallie played for the other team.

"I just wish my dad could have been here," said Mitch Kline of his 1997 death. "He would have been so proud of her. I can definitely say she is my favorite player in the Public League."

Hallie Klein's dad Bruce added, "If Washington would have lost, it wouldn't have been the worst thing losing to my brother."

MIDDLEBURG SUFFERS CRUEL FIRST-ROUND LOSS

Middleburg (Pa.), the nation's top ranked field hockey team in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10 heading into the 2003 District 4 playoffs, has not had history or luck on its side.

The Middies exited the PIAA tournament in the first round in 2001 and 2002, ending their quest for a state championship before they had a chance to gain momentum in the single-elimination tournament.

In 2003, playing against Beaver Springs West Snyder (Pa.), Middleburg's road to a state championship ended before it even began. Jenelle Mattern's overtime penalty stroke gave West Snyder the upset win.

"Middleburg is an incredible team. To beat them is awesome," West Snyder coach Andrea Teats told The Sunbury Daily Item. "I’m speechless."

Middleburg fell victim to the Jim Davis First Law of Field Hockey, believing that a third straight win over its Tri-Valley League foe was imminent.

That all changed in the 40th minute, as Mattern worked her way free in the circle and banged a low shot into the cage.

But in the 57th, Middleburg star forward Mallory Weisen came through with a flick off a penalty corner that found the upper shelf.

Middleburg was hopeful that the extra space allotted in 7-on-7 overtime would allow a golden goal escape.

However, in the 67th minute, Middleburg goalkeeper Renee Herbster was forced to cover the ball in the circle, yielding Mattern's stroke goal that ended Middleburg's perfect season.

"You have to give them credit. They made a good play there," Middleburg coach Matt Soto tells The Daily Item. "This is a rather large disappointment."

WARWICK: THEY'RE BAAAAACK

Nestled in the green hills north of Lancaster, the leviathan called Lititz Warwick (Pa.) is raising its head once again.

Road wins over Northampton Council Rock South (Pa.) and defending PIAA Class AAA champion Buckingham Central Bucks East (Pa.) have the Warriors at 3-0 and looking like the team that won state championships in 2000 and 2001.

Bob Derr knew, however, that his team's 2-0 win over the Patriots was against a team graduating seven talented seniors and going through a coaching change; Jill Henry took over for Jeff Harding over the summer.

"It's like you have a big target on your back," Derr told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Everybody is going to be after Central Bucks East all season. You have to become mentally tough for it."

Warwick and C.B. East have become familiar with each other over the years, as the two teams battled for the 2000 title, and East has been an invitee to Warwick's preseason playday.

"We played very well against them - even it if was for only a half-hour," said East's Jen Long to the Inquirer. "After playing them the way we did earlier, I guess we didn't want it today. We spent a lot of time in practice working on our offense but it wasn't there today."

Warwick earned 16 corners and held East cornerless, and with a single goal attempt -- eerily reminiscent of the Red and Black's past conquests.

TOP SLOT IN MID-PENN KEYSTONE UP FOR GRABS

When Mechanicsburg Cumberland Valley (Pa.) traveled to Chambersburg (Pa.) for a showdown for the lead in the Mid-Penn Conference's Keystone Division, folks knew that the first open chance could determine the outcome of the match.

And when CV knocked the ball into the cage, they thought they had converted. However, the ball was batted into the cage with a high stick, and play continued.

The batted ball culminated almost 15 minutes of pressure, whereupon Chambersburg turned it completely around. The Trojans earned a stroke, but failed to convert. Moments later, Natalie Faith's corner secured the points and the lead in the division with a week and a half to go in the regular season.

"This was a great game today where both teams played well and played hard," Cumberland Valley head coach Patrick Weigle told The Carlisle Sentinel. "There just was not enough pressure in the second half for us. If we had as many chances as in the first half, we would have scored."

MORAVIAN LEAVES IT LATE, BUT OH, SO SATISFYINGLY

Bethlehem Moravian Academy (Pa.) is not supposed to be in the same class as Center Valley Southern Lehigh (Pa.), which has been such a dominating force in Class AA field hockey over the years.

But after the Lions beat Solehi 2-1 in overtime for a second straight regular-season victory, it appears that they have arrived in that upper echelon of field hockey teams called "state title contenders."

"We still have a little ways to go," Moravian coach Debbie Bross told The Easton Express-Times, "but how can you argue where we're at right now?"

The Lions are playing as confident a game of field hockey as they ever have in Bross' 23 seasons. Trailing 1-0 in the 59th minute, Emily Bross scored a sensational field goal off an Amy Schneider pass to tie the score and send it into overtime.

"Once we got that, I knew we had it," Schneider told The Express-Times.

Did they ever. Schneider used the open space of 7-on-7 hockey to snare a rebound at the 63:30 mark.

MUSICAL CHAIRS HAPPENING WITH KEYSTONE TEAMS

OK, so here's what's happening in the PIAA when it comes to the addition of what could be more than a dozen teams the next three years.

Philadelphia public school teams, having played independently of the PIAA for decades, will form a new district, District 12, in 2004. Construction will begin in the spring of 2004 on several outdoor multipurpose athletic facilities which may result in not only the seven existing public-school field hockey teams, but a handful of others to join in the move to PIAA competition.

Now, there's the little matter of what could be the ultimate dissolution of the Keystone Scholastic Athletic Conference, which has been in existence since 1962. In 2002, Newtown Square Delaware County Christian (Pa.) left to join the Southern Chester County League. This fall sees Plumsteadville Plumstead Christian (Pa.) and Philadelphia Calvary Christian (Pa.) move to the Bicentennial Athletic League.

The BAL then split in two, with the newcomers joining Jenkintown (Pa.) and Morrisville (Pa.) in the smaller-school division, but Jenkintown agreed to move to the large-school division in place of Bristol (Pa.), seeing as former BAL contender Gwynedd (Pa.)-Mercy Academy left to join the Catholic Academies League.

Confused?

"Maybe some people will be looking at us as the new kids on the block from a little dinky school, coming from a dinky league," said Plumstead coach Andrea Hafner to the Doylestown Intelligencer. "But we're ready to dive in and take the bull by the horns."

So, what of the last five KSAC schools? Stay tuned.

CRUNCH TIME FOR BIG SPRING

Newville Big Spring (Pa.) not only has its share of opponents on the field but a few off of it as well.

The school board at the town just outside of Carlisle voted 5-2 over the summer to require that a girls' team forfeit any game in which boys participated on the part of the opposition.

And the parents of the Big Spring field hockey team are none too thrilled.

"Parents are very unhappy about the possibility of forfeiting games," said Becky Fry after a school board meeting the first week of September. "As parents, we feel that keeping our girls safe is our right and responsibility."

She also pointed out that the school's boys' soccer team scrimmaged a co-ed soccer team days before the field hockey season started.

The Pennnsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association is one of just two state sanctioning bodies that allow boys to play on girls' field hockey teams.

NESHAMINY'S D'EMILIO IS A WHIZ IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

Langhorne Neshaminy (Pa.) has one of the nation's most unenviable tasks in the fall of 2003. It has to replace Allison Nemeth, one of the finest goalkeepers ever to wear the Red and Blue. And, given the hammerlock Neshaminy had on Suburban One divisional play from 1979 to 1992, that's saying something.

While Nemeth is strutting her stuff for Princeton University, Gina D'Emilio has taken over nicely.

And, as it turns out, D'Emilio has talent of another sort. Seems a player had gotten a little too big for the kilt she was issued, and head coach Lisa Pennington needed to let it out for the growing teenage player.

By happenstance, she stumbled upon her junior goalkeeper.

"I can sew, what do you need?" D'Emilio asked shortly before the lunch break.

"By 4 o'clock it was ready to go," Pennington told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "It looked like a professional did it. She even adjusted the waistline."

D'Emilio is a creator of clothing, handbags, and other knicknacks, and is already thinking about turning that into an enterprise.

"Why work for someone else when I can have my own business?" D'Emilio tells the Inquirer.

Sounds like a good plan.

For last year's notes, click here.