Scholastic Notes

Tri-State region

PENNSYLVANIA

PIAA FINALS SHOW THE VALUE OF RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association preselects district qualification seeds in its single-elimination tournaments, meaning that it is possible for state finals to be aftermaths after tough semifinal or even quarterfinal matchups.

In both the AA and AAA tournaments, dream matchups occurred in the semifinal round, and you could have forgiven the victors for not following on with their best in the finals played four days later.

But in both championships at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) and Hummelstown Lower Dauphin (Pa.) came through with wins thanks to dominating second-half performances.

In the case of Wyoming Seminary, the Blue Knights edged Pennsville Upper Perkiomen (Pa.) 1-0 on an Abby Sordoni goal in the second half. The senior received a fortunate rebound off Tribe goalkeeper Chelsea Smith's pads and squirted the ball over the line. The goal came in the midst of about 25 minutes' worth of wilting second-half pressure applied by the nation's best attacking midfield: sophomores Kelsey Kolojejchick and Devon Gagliardi and junior Kat Sharkey.

"That was crazy; I think the initial shot came from Kelsey or Kat, and it bounced off the goalie, and I followed up," said Sordoni, who appears to have fully recovered from two ACL surgeries. "We've been working on following up the past two weeks, and it worked."

Even though Sem dominated second-half possession and shots, there was a final challenge. In the 55th minute, the Wyoming Seminary bench was green-carded for dissent. Simultaneously, goalkeeper Erin McGinley was also called for a non-contact foul and was upgraded to a five-minute yellow-card. By rule, the Knights would play the balance of regulation down a player, and with a backup goalkeeper.

Upper Perk never managed to tie the score, though, thanks to the steadying influence of senior back Elizabeth Blaum. With the win, combined with the semifinal round win over Selinsgrove (Pa.), the season-long No. 1 team in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10, Wyoming Seminary was presented with the TopOfTheCountry trophy emblematic of being the finest team in all the land.

"Having an undefeated season is a huge thing to do," Sordoni said, "and going to the championship is unbelievable."

"Once we beat Selinsgrove, we knew we had another game," Kolojechick said. "We couldn't get too excited before this game, because Upper Perk is a great team."

But there was nervousness, which led to one player getting sick on the bus heading from Wilkes-Barre to Allentown. Upper Perk also took over the match the first two minutes, getting a pair of gilt-edged chances off corners.

"We came out flat, and Upper Perk's plan was to slow us down -- and it's the plan I would use against us, too," said legendary Sem head coach Karen Klassner, a member of the all-time 400-win club. "We played well enough to win; we may not have put our best foot forward today, but we'll take a state championship."

"I give them credit; they played amazing," Kolojechick said. "We seemed to dribble too much and they made perfect block tackles on us. We talked and we knew that we had to pass more and open up the field."

Similarly, in the AAA final, Lower Dauphin had a dominating second-half in terms of possession and shooting against Flourtown Mount St. Joseph's (Pa.) holding a 2-1 lead, but Mount did manage to earn a corner in the final seconds. The Magic's attempt flew wide, giving the Falcons their third Class AAA championship.

As was the case in for Wyoming Seminary, Lower Dauphin could have been forgiven if it had a letdown after a semifinal superclassico win over two-time defending champion Emmaus (Pa.). But the Falcons got a gutty individual goal from winger Sami Young and midfielder Julie Barton slammed in a 1-Up corner, dispelling that notion early.

"It was a shame that the Emmaus game wasn't the state championship; it was a smoother game than this one," Barton said. "It felt great that we could get to the state championship and win it, having an undefeated season."

Mount St. Joseph's, however, would respond late in the first half. Lower Dauphin responded by playing much less frenetic, keeping possession out of the middle of the field and allowing the Magic to chase.

"We knew we had to keep the ball to the outside and not get it into Katie Reinprecht, who is an excellent player," said legendary Lower Dauphin head coach Linda Kreiser, who is also part of the 500-win club. "They have strengths that we have, and I knew it was going to be a great championship game, and whatever team got the breaks would get the win."

WYOMING SEMINARY TURNS TO KOLOJECHICK FOR HEROICS

It was supposed to be a midfield for the ages. At the beginning of the 2005 season, Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) was blessed with three young attacking midfielders who had the potential to win three or more state championships.

But after Tara Puffenberger (Dallas, Pa.) and Kelsey Lloyd (Watertown Taft School, Conn.) transferred to other schools, Sem now relies on sophomore Kelsey Kolojejchick for that brilliance.

Kolojejchick has turned in some tremendous performances in big games, and perhaps none moreso than her assist to Kat Sharkey in the PIAA Class AA semifinal against Selinsgrove (Pa.). The match, pitting the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10, was everything it could have been when it came to quality of play.

It's just that Kolojejchick had the right answer at the right time. In the 28th minute, she ran down a ball that was headed for the end line on the left wing and, with a scintillating effort, dove at the ball, carved it off the paint, and found Sharkey for the tap-in.

“This is the best game we played all season,” Sem head coach Karen Klassner tells Citizens' Voice. “Everyone played well for us tonight. And they were the best team we’ve played all season.”

The Seals had been ranked No. 1 since the preseason, thanks to tremendous senior leadership, speed, explosiveness, technical ability, and a long-forgotten skill -- receiving the ball.

But Kolojechick and her wingmates bottled up Selinsgrove's front six and ended the best season that this small-town team has ever had.

"They were fast, had great stickwork and are well-coached," 23-year head coach Cathy Keiser told The Sunbury Daily Item. "We had some opportunities that didn't go our way. But that's field hockey."

Selinsgrove outshot Wyoming Seminary 10-9 but could not take advantage of all of its chances.

Kolojejchick had more magic in the PIAA District 3-Class AA final against Mountain Top Crestwood (Pa.)

Kolojechick scored a golden goal in the 63rd minute to give Sem a 1-0 win. Crestwood, however, was playing short since a yellow-card suspension carried over into the 7-on-7 -- or, in this instance, a 7-on-6.

“We knew since they were a man down, we had to score in the first three minutes,” Kolojejchick told The Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader. “We really knew we had to step it up.”

HISTORY MADE AND BROKEN IN AAA SEMIFINAL CLASH OF LEGENDS

Never in the history of National Federation field hockey have 1,165 wins been on the sidelines at the same time.

But that's what happened when Hall Of Fame coaches Linda Kreiser (528 wins for Hummelstown Lower Dauphin) and Susan Butz-Stavin (637 at Emmaus) met for one of two berths in the PIAA Class AAA final.

And, as it turned out, the difference was a player who may give up her hockey stick entirely in the near future.

Lauren Alwine, a junior who is part of the United States U-16 soccer team, put away a neat three-way passing play to give Lower Dauphin a 2-1 lead with 20 minutes remaining.

The Falcons had fallen behind in the 20th minute on an Angie Lucik goal. Whatever Kreiser said at the interval, however, should be bottled and shelved alongside the likes of Vince Lombardi or Mike Krzyzewski, since Lower Dauphin held Emmaus to no shots and no corners in the second half.

"We bent and they did score, but we realized we could score too," Kreiser told The Harrisburg Patriot-News. "We had chances up there and we just had to make a few adjustments."

And it worked.

"They really compacted one side of the field," Emmaus captain and full forward Amanda Huck told The Allentown Morning Call. "It's really hard to go against someone when they overwhelm you on one side. It's been a while since that happened -- maybe the last time we played them. Or Eastern."

MANHEIM TRYING TO REPEAT HISTORY

Manheim (Pa.) Central won the third Pennsyvania Interscholastic Athletic Association championship in 1976. And it hasn't won since.

The town is located just two miles west of Lititz, where Warwick High School has manufactured its own championship history with three state titles.

Former Barons head coach Julie Dickson, the head coach for that state title team, relates to The Lancaster New Era that her team had distinct a home-field advantage in the days before Title IX. A tree within the field lines was in play. These days, however, the team uses the artificial grass inside the school's football stadium.

"It was dreadful to teach hockey and develop skills on what we played on," Dickson tells The New Era. "To be able to develop skills on turf is wonderful exposure at the high school level."

KLASSNER FIELD OPENS WITH A DERBY VICTORY

An overflow crowd jammed the sidelines of a new artificial-grass pitch on the campus of Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School in Kingston, Pa., a suburb of Wilkes-Barre. Cars found it difficult to park in the residential neighborhood abutting the campus. Police officers had to oversee the flow of traffic and people flocking to the new field.

The occasion was the derby match between Mountain Top Crestwood (Pa.) and Wyoming Seminary. But what made the day special was the dedication of the field for long-time head coach Karen Klassner. The scoreboard wasn't installed yet, the new bathrooms aren't yet run in, and neither was the overhead arch over the entrance walkway, giving the site a spartan quality to it -- appropriate, given the fact that the Spartan is the school mascot.

But after all of the ceremony and tributes (Crestwood gave Klassner a cake in the shape of a hockey field), there was a game to be played. Abby Sordoni, a senior attacker, stamped her mark on the game with a penalty stroke and a field goal in a 2-0 win.

"I was happy for the fans because they saw a good game," Klassner said. "And it's always a good game when we play Crestwood."

Crestwood, as its wont, prepared well for the match, bottling up the Spartans' speed and quickness with timely tackling and flooding the midfield.

But Sordoni, when given her chances, was not about to waste them. She lost a season and a half with ACL injuries, including that crucial junior year.

"Missing my junior year was hard, and I wanted to finish it out," Sordoni said. "I would like to play Division I, but it all depends on whether a college I like has Division I hockey."

"I would have liked to have seen what kind of player we would have had if we had kept her without the injury," Klassner said. "It would have been pretty amazing, I think."

But the day was all about the new pitch, Klassner, and, to an extent, Crestwood head coach Elvetta Gemski. Between the two longtime rivals, they have met some 70 times since 1976.

The two coaches have more than 950 victories between them and five PIAA champions, and have a tremendous respect for each other -- even under controversial circumstances. There are plenty of folks in the greater Lackawanna/Luzerne area who believe that Wyoming Seminary won the 2004 state championship on an overtime tip-in, not on Crestwood's well-worked goal less than a minute later.

But these are two coaches who understand that no matter how much effort is invested in a particular team, it needs to be rebuilt the following year and there is no sense dwelling on the past.

"Elvetta and I have been through this together a lot, and our kids have been together at a lot of other events," Klassner said. "When you play Crestwood, you know you're going to have a really good game of field hockey."

BRANDYWINE HEIGHTS GETS WIN 20 YEARS IN THE MAKING

For two decades, the Berks III League and the Berks County Tournament championship hav been the exclusive domain of Oley (Pa.) Valley. The Lynx parlayed its league success into state championship wins in 1997 and 2000, and a state final appearance in 2005.

Topton Brandywine Heights (Pa.), however, matched Oley game for game in league play until the two teams met in the final game of their respective regular seasons.

Brandywine Heights marched into hostile territory and came out with a 1-0 win on Laura Wummer's 41st-minute tally. It was the first league title for the Bullets in 20 years.

On the play, Wummer hit the post, and the rebound came to teammate Abbey Hordendorf, who found Wummer for a deserved putaway.

"They've been the team that we wanted to beat every year," Wummer tells The Reading Eagle. "It just felt so good to beat them."

At the other end of the pitch, Brandywine Heights goalkeeper Chrissy Hoffman was stout. Playing an Oley Valley team attacking in waves, she interposed herself against any every shot and imposed her will on the match.

"Oley is such a big rival for us," Hoffman told The Eagle. "Just having them be our last game made it so much better. We usually don't have much luck on this field. But we did today."

FORMER TEAMMATES ON OPPOSITE ENDS AND OPPOSITE ROLES

A scant three months before Ambler Wissahickon (Pa.) and Levittown Pennsbury (Pa.) met in a field hockey game, Tracey Arndt and Katie O'Donnell were teammates on the New Jersey-Pennsylvania Elite Performance Training Center team.

But both found themselves not only on opposing high school teams, they were in opposite roles, too. Arndt, born Tracey Larson, earned 87 caps for Team USA in the early part of the 2000s and took the head coaching job at Pennsbury in 2006. O'Donnell, who earned 20 caps in 2005, is still a high-school senior and one of the top three recruits in the Class of 2006.

In this matchup at least, the teenager had the better day as Wissahickon took a 3-0 result. O'Donnell flipped in a spectacular field goal before the game was six minutes old, and set up sophomore Natalie Draham for a double.

"It can be nerve-racking playing with Katie," Draham tells The Philadelphia Inquirer. "Sometimes when she's playmaking, I think I'm in her way. You always have to be alert. She really helps us so much."

SELINSGROVE WINS OWN TOURNAMENT

If Selinsgrove (Pa.) thought it was going to suffer under the pressure of being the No. 1 team in the preseason TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10, it didn't show the first three weeks of the 2006 season. The Seals have outscored their first nine opponents 62-1, including dominating wins 8-0 wins over Mifflintown Juniata (Pa.) and Millerstown Greenwood (Pa.) at the Turf Fest at The Grove.

The Seals were hoping be a lightly-regarded team, not attracting much attention until deep in the state tournament. After all, only one District 4 team has ever won a PIAA field hockey championship.

But there has been added attention to the borough of Selinsgrove thanks to what could be a perfect storm of ability, experience, and belief. Role-modeling from Team USA's Keli Smith, 12 seniors, and nine returning varsity starters have had the town and the surrounding area aflutter.

"Overall, in terms of talent at every position, this might be the best team I've ever had," says Seals head coach Cathy Keiser, in her 23rd season at the helm. "They really work well together; this senior group has been really committed since seventh grade."

In the final of the Turf Fest, Greenwood goalkeeper Heather Barndt frustrated the Selinsgrove corner attack with a number of good saves. So Selinsgrove knew what it had to do: score field goals. Starting in the 12th minute, the Seals scored from many different angles, taking advantage of minute openings and the occasional missed sweep tackle.

And in the second half, the Selinsgrove corner unit started working, as long blasts found their way to the backboard.

Alicia Mayer had two goals and three assists, and Morgan Fleetwood had two goals and two assists in the final.

The Turf Fest, in its second year, also had a junior varsity component, which has given Keiser the idea to expand the tournament to as many as eight teams.

"I'd like it to be bigger, and to have different teams," she says. "Three games in a day might be a little much, but it's a matter of finding teams to come here; I don't want to keep playing teams in our league all the time."

CREATIVITY AND WYOMING SEMINARY RULE THE DAY

When Ambler Wissahickon (Pa.) hosted Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) in a matchup of the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the TopOfTheCircle.com preseason Top 10 on the second weekend of September, the chances created in the first 20 minutes of play were gilt-edged.

It was only a matter of time until one went in, and by the time Wissahickon was able to recover from conceding the first goal, five shots went into the cage, as Sem ran out as 5-1 winners at Class of 1977 Stadium.

Kelsey Kolojejchick of Wyoming Seminary and Katie O'Donnell of Wissahickon used their top-hole ball skills and quickness to expose the opposing defenses. Cutting passes led to open shots for their teammates.

Problem was, Wissahickon goalkeeper Ali Meves and Sem's Erin McGinley were spectacular, coming out to stuff breakaways and blunting hard shots with their pads.

Kat Sharkey, who had a hat trick against Wyoming Valley West the day before, matched her feat with a natural hat trick in the span of 19 minutes. She finished a 2-on-1 in the 23rd, converted a penalty corner in the 42nd, then executed a scintillating piece of individual hockey from the left wing 17 seconds later, weaving around three players for the score.

It was all too much for Wissahickon and O'Donnell, the U.S. senior international, who had only decided recently to opt out from selection for one of the two World Cup alternate slots to concentrate on her senior year of high school.

But for Wyoming Seminary, it was a famous victory.

"This was a great game for us," said Sem head coach Karen Klassner, who came into the season with 463 victories, tied for 13th all-time. "The bus ride down, I thought they looked tired, but they gave us a great game."

Kolojejchick (one goal, two assists) was especially effective.

"She sees the field really well, and today, she was really on," Klassner said. "Because of Katie (O'Donnell) being on the field, we felt we really needed to pass the ball, and look for everyone to pass."

Especially to Sharkey.

"I felt we did a really good job on our passing, and it was really important to us," she said. "The last couple of weeks, our coaches have been telling us to force the shot when we had it instead of passing it off. We had to make sure not to pass the ball at the wrong time, and we should carry the ball when we need to."

NEW JERSEY

HEARTBEATS QUICKEN ON FINAL DAY OF TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

In past years, on the final Sunday of the American domestic field hockey season in New Jersey, you really didn't know what to expect.

After all, this was the first-in-the-nation Tournament of Champions, and as such, coaching strategies and practices had to be altered for a season that grades out to be a week longer than usual.

The fans jamming the stands at Lions Stadium at The College of New Jersey never saw the preparations, but saw plenty of good hockey. Moorestown (N.J.) beat Summit Oak Knoll (N.J.) 2-1 in the third-place match, while Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) edged North Caldwell West Essex (N.J.) 2-1 in the championship match.

Moorestown used its typical swarming attack to manufacture their goals. Karli Tobin scored in each half from inside three yards after consistent pounding inside the striking circle.

Oak Knoll responded with a 28th-minute 1-Up corner blast from its leader, Virginia Crotty. That goal sent the Royals into the interval with momentum, but Moorestown was having none of it.

"To have the opportunity to play in something like this, especially for the first time, you need to treat it like it's an honor," said Moorestown head coach Meredith Elwell. "We don't get to see Oak Knoll and West Essex. You almost have to treat it as a second season."

For Elwell, the bronze-medal match was a sort of homecoming. A decade ago, she had an absolutely marvelous game in the state championship final, capping off her a hat trick on an scintillating move they're still talking about in southern Burlington County.

"It was a bit of a bummer not to play the group finals here since it's the image in all the kids' minds," Elwell said. "Still, winning the Group III championship is amazing."

For head coach Ali Good, who played for Oak Knoll in the years when they were in the Prep "A" championship finals, then saw the team's rise in the Mountain Valley Conference after forsaking NJISAA membership in 1999, the bronze medal match was the culmination of a notable season when it comes to schools from non-traditional hockey areas. And for the Royals, it was a case of exploration rather than just game play.

"They've been working so hard, I was wondering how much longer their legs could carry them," Good said. "So the last two practices we had was just pure fun. And we did. I thought it was important not to have them out there doing drillwork and situational plays; when you get to this point of the season, there's not much more coaching you can do."

The same could also be said about West Essex in preparing for Eastern. In the stands during the consolation game, the Knights weren't doing hard-core stretching or jogging, they were chanting and cheering on Oak Knoll -- the team they had beaten four days earlier in the T of C semifinals.

This loose attitude helped the Knights in the final -- for a while. But from the 18th to the 54th minute, the Vikings applied their trademark sustained pressure. They cut off and swarmed West Essex's midfield and did not allow them much room to build up attacks.

And more importantly, Eastern outcornered West Essex in the match 17-1. And the decisive points of the match were the corner goals scored by Steph Carney in the 21st and 24th minutes that gave the Vikings enough to win the contest and the inaugural Tournament of Champions trophy.

"The kids played well, and West Essex brought everything they had, but our kids stepped up," said Eastern head coach Danyle Heilig. "It says a lot about our team that everyone we play can bring their 'A' game and we can still come out on top. And that feels good."

Carney's second goal was a sublime piece of magic. She started the corner with an insertion to Meghan Dawson, who held the ball for a split second while Carney cut for the post. Dawson slapped the ball off the insert back to Carney, whose back was to the goal. She angled her stick so that the spin of Dawson's hard pass would result in the ball curling on the AstroTurf inside the far post. It was the equivalent of a massé shot in billiards.

"When we got that one, I felt so happy for her," said Heilig. "We've been working that corner all year, and all the times it should have gone in, it didn't."

"I give credit to (Heilig) for that -- she knows it wasn't my strength and she's helped me every day in practice," said the senior attacker. "I said if I was playing post today, I was going to get it."

West Essex managed a few opportunities with its outstanding speed. Deana Hagel, Cara Silverman, and Giovanna Monaco were allowed room on their left wing thanks to some pinpoint Sam Serpe deliveries in the midfield. But the Eastern backline of Meghan, Melanie, and Hannah Dawson interposed themselves at the right times.

But one Serpe free hit from inside the dashed circle was hatcheted in by Monaco. However, West Essex would not have another sustained possession again.

It was the fifth time the teams have met since 2002, and the fourth time that the final score was 2-1 in favor of Eastern.

"We're never going to give up a game; not going to happen," said West Essex head coach Jill Cosse. "And our kids fought all the way through. I'm so proud of them. They are such a good team, and I'll take these kids into battle any day."

PLENTY OF COMPETITIVE MATCHES IN GROUP FINALS

The NJSIAA group finals this year found plenty of unfamiliar territory. The site was moved all the way across the state from Ewing to Toms River, which may have kept the attendance from what can often be several thousand to perhaps a little over a thousand.

In addition, the games were a collective "tipping point." Win, and you were guaranteed two games in the first-in-the-nation Tournament of Champions. Lose, and you had 10 months to ponder the mistakes made in a 60-minute game.

The coaches may tell you that they tried to do the same job on Game Day, but with such a large prize looming on the horizon after a state championship as the inaugural title of Champion of Champions, you bet there was some extra intensity left on the field.

How else do you explain the inability of Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) being unable to pull away from a very game Bridgewater-Raritan (N.J.) unit which lost to this same team by four goals in 2005?

Mind you, Eastern did win its eighth straight state championship with a 2-0 final, putting it one behind Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Md.) for the all-time lead for consecutive state championships. But the Vikings, to a woman, were not happy with the result and credited the opposition for a job well done.

"I think," said Eastern coach Danyle Heilig to The Star-Ledger of Newark, "they read some of the predictions for today's game and just made this game personal. They played with determination and passion."

Statewide message boards and blogs gave the Panthers little chance. But the team, whose East and West campuses merged about a decade ago, played splendidly, only yielding goals in the 21st minute to Kelsey Mitchell and in the 28th to Meghan Dawson, a corner blast which was her 36th goal of the season.

"We knew we were the underdogs, but this was possibly our last game of the season so we just played as hard as we could," B-R freshman goalkeeper Erica Perrine told The Ledger "Eastern is a great team, but I think the schedule we had and the way we played prepared us for this."

Bridgewater-Raritan had, earlier this season, won its first outright Somerset County Tournament and had done well in its non-league competition.

Part of that competition was Summit Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child (N.J.), which had a decent hockey history in the mid-1990s, including getting the top seed in the Prep "A" championship.

It became one of a number of preparatory schools to join the Iron Hills Conference in the late 1990s. And like its counterpart Martinsville Pingry School (N.J.), Oak Knoll can now call itself a Group I State Champion -- and the very first state champion from Union County as well.

That's because Oak Knoll bested Pennsauken Bishop Eustace 3-2 on a Kelly Mousseau golden goal in the 79th minute.

Mousseau deflected a pass from senior Virginia Crotty, who had a goal and two assistst in the match.

"I knew the entire time that we would win," Crotty tells The Star-Ledger. "We came too far and were playing too well not to."

Mousseau had a goal waved off four minutes earlier when it was determined that the shot had been taken outside the circle.

It was Bishop Eustace's best chance at a state championship since winning a New Jersey Parochial "B" title match in 1982.

"I'm proud of them -- they fought for 78 minutes, they played hard and they showed their character, as they've done all season," Bishop Eustace coach Krissy Holak tells The Camden Courier-Post. "At times we were underdogs this season, but they weren't gonna take "we couldn't do it.' "

You could say the same thing about the defense of North Caldwell West Essex (N.J.), which yielded only its second goal of the season in the Group II title game, but still found a way to beat the nation's oldest varsity program, Haddonfield (N.J.) Memorial.

The difference in the 2-1 win was not only Amanda Barretta's goal in the 40th minute, but the goalkeeping of Noell Gomez. She made a season-high eight saves including a couple of 10-bell stops to keep her team in the lead when the Bulldogs applied late pressure.

"This was the first time I saw her respond in a pressure situation," Wessex head coach Jill Cosse tells The Star-Ledger. "I know she's a great goalie because she's tested regularly in practice."

Cosse now is closing in on the end of her 10th season at the helm, and with the Group II win, won her 200th game as head coach.

"Coach would never tell us she was one game from 200 because she would never put that type of pressure on us," senior back Becky McClain tells The Star-Ledger.

Haddonfield, which attained varsity status in 1909, fell just short.

"When you suffer your first loss in the state championship game, that's not a bad year," Haddonfield coach Alicia Scully tells The Courier-Post. "I couldn't be prouder of a group of kids. They were just determined all year long and stuck together and just had a tremendous season."

Another New Jersey program with a lengthy history, Moorestown (N.J.), had an equally tough time. But the Quakers edged out a 1-0 win over Glen Gardner Voorhees (N.J.).

Giulia Giordano's 23rd-minute goal was the difference on the scoreboard, but Voorhees goalkeeper Meagan Vakiener may have been the difference in the entire match, making 13 saves.

"Meagan Vakiener rocked," Vikings head coach Beth Stocker tells The Bridgewater Courier-News. "All the power to Meagan Vakiener."

Some more of that power could have helped the Voorhees attack, which had a single shot on goal the entire match. But the Moorestown coaching staff was concerned.

"You hear horror stories of how a team can have one fast break and tie it up. That's not a good feeling," Moorestown head coach Meredith Elwell tells The Courier-Post. "So you never really rest until the final whistle blows."

It was the 16th state championship for the Quakers, whose hockey history is believed to have started sometime around 1911.

LAWRENCEVILLE ESCAPES PITONYAK CENTER WITH WIN

The public schools are playing a Tournament of Champions in New Jersey in 2006 for the first time.

But in the single-bracket New Jersey Independent Schools Athletic Association tournament, you might think of the matchup between Princeton Stuart Country Day (N.J.) and The Lawrenceville (N.J.) School as a matchup of the best of the smaller Prep "B" schools and the larger Prep "A" schools.

That's because the entire field of Prep "A" and Prep "B" schools were playing for one NJSIAA championship this year.

And in what has become a pretty intense rivalry the last dozen years, Lawrenceville got a tip-in goal in the final minute of play from Alyse Ruff to give the Big Red a 1-0 victory.

"I am so excited at this point," Ruff tells The Trenton Times. "I never thought I would be the one to score the game-winning goal to give us the state title."

Ruff, the reigning player of the year in girls' ice hockey, has had a peripatetic life. Born in San Diego, she lives in Oregon, but has had a pretty good physical and academic education in New Jersey. She is likely to be one of the premier prospects coming into NCAA ice hockey next year.

Stuart, to be sure, had its chances. Kelly Bruvik was her usual excellent self in the attack, threatening the Lawrenceville circle with her touch. Indeed, she snapped off a backhander in the 50th that Big Red goalie Nellie Morris got a legpad on.

"Nellie has been having a fabulous season," Lawrenceville head coach Martha Gracey tells The Times. "She made a big save at the end of a rocket of a shot. I don't even know if she saw it coming. I think her reflexes just kicked in. It was a fabulous save. That made a huge difference in this game."

COUNTY TOURNAMENTS FEATURE THE USUAL SUSPECTS

At the end of the county tournament season in New Jersey, very little was learned since the expected teams in each of the nine in-season single-elimination tournaments made it to their championship games or won outright.

Even the historically competitive Mercer County Tournament reflected a sense of sameness. For the last four years, Princeton Stuart Country Day School (N.J.) and Allentown (N.J.) have met for the title. Stuart, playing a scant three miles from its campus at Princeton High School, bested Allentown 4-0.

It was the third MCT title for the Tartans in the last four years, and the fourth overall. Stuart head coach Missy Bruvik, a graduate of Princeton High School, has coached all four MCT title winners.

"Just to come back here four years in a row is a huge tribute to these kids," Bruvik tells The Trentonian. "We were going to give it our best effort, but we've been playing well all year. So it was about if we could, not so much peak, but maintain that kind of play."

The Tartans, who improved to 16-0-1 on the season with the victory, got three goals in the first quarter-hour to salt away the victory. Kelly Bruvik, the coach's daughter, got a goal within two minutes to start the onslaught.

The Shore Conference Tournament, taking the 16 teams in the superconference with the best records, was once again won by West Long Branch Shore Regional (N.J.). It was the 11th SCT title for the Blue Devils.

The win came on an overtime penalty stroke over Holmdel St. John Vianney (N.J.), making its first appearance in the SCT final. Allison Vogel, given a free lane to goal by the SJV defense, had her stick pinned from behind by the Vianney defense and the stroke was rightly called.

"Going into this game we wanted to shut them down in the first 60 minutes and not get into overtime," Vogel tells The Asbury Park Press. "But once we did get into overtime, we knew we had to end it as soon as possible."

And as it turned out, all it took was 74 seconds. Vianney had earned its way into the final by knocking off top seed Oakhurst Ocean Township (N.J.) 2-0, but Shore was another matter.

Summit Oak Knoll (N.J.) won its third straight Union County Tournament with a 4-0 win over Clark Johnson Regional (N.J.). Allie Hubschmann, in just her ninth game back from knee surgery, scored all four goals for Oak Knoll, and it took just 36 minutes.

"It was awesome, especially because I'm a senior," Hubschmann told The Newark Star-Ledger. "The whole team played so well. Even though the score was 4-0, it was a very challenging game."

Now, in the Somerset County Tournament, the story was the contrast between Martinsville Pingry School (N.J.), one of the smallest hockey-playing schools in the state, taking on Bridgewater-Raritan (N.J.), one of the largest. Pingry had won 10 SCT titles in the last 11 seasons.

But the Panthers won 3-2 on Maria Caro's sudden thrust in the 80th minute of play.

"We knew this was all or nothing," Caro told The Star-Ledger of Newark. "Our team is very close and everybody here wanted to win this one badly."

Make that very badly. The Panthers had one of their finest seasons in 2005, but found itself yet another victim of the Eastern juggernaut. Even a SCT championship in 2004 wasn't fully satisfying, seeing as the title was shared with Basking Ridge Ridge (N.J.).

The Bergen County Tournament final was also a match which went down to the final minutes of extra time. Mary O'Connor's goal in the 79th gave Ramsey (N.J.) a 1-0 win over Dwight-Englewood (N.J.)

"I don't even remember, it was just a blur," said O'Connor to The Bergen Record of her golden corner goal. "I just remember seeing the ball go into the corner of the goal and being relieved."

In the Morris County Tournament, the dominant figure over the past dozen years has been Madison (N.J.), winner of 13 overall titles and nine of the past 12.

In 2006, the Dodgers showed its 2004 championship form and blew out Boonton 4-1.

"The MCT is the first championship we come across," sniper Erica Eng tells The Morris County Daily Record. "It's good to have it under our belts. It gives us confidence. Now that we have that feeling, we want it again."

It just might happen, as the Dodgers improved to 19-0 on the season, a definite Group I title contender.

Another contender for its state championship is North Caldwell West Essex (N.J.), a team which is beginning to make its mark on, of all things, defense.. Through the first month of the season, backs Sam Serpe, Becky McClain, Jen Silverstein and Breada Farrell and goalkeeper Noell Gomez had not conceded a single goal.

The shutout streak continued through the final of the Essex County Tournament, a 4-0 win over Montclair (N.J.) to avenge a loss in 2005.

"We didn't want to feel the way last year's captains (Kim Pantages, Gabby Cafone and Bettina Mianulli) felt after the loss to Montclair," senior attacker Deana Hagel tels The Newark Star-Ledger. "We wanted to bring the title back to West Essex. We felt we owed it to them."

Hagel struck for goals in the 39th and 41st, allowing the defense to squelch any Montclair forays.

"This was the first real test for us this year, but we set higher goals for this team and now we must shoot for those goals," Cosse tells The Star-Ledger. "We're halfway to where we want to be when the state tournament begins. This win just gives us some momentum heading into the tournament."

An equally exciting defensive performance took place in the Hunterdon-Warren Tournament final between Glen Gardner Voorhees (N.J.) and Washington Warren Hills (N.J.). Voorhees took an early 2-0 lead and held a 3-1 advantage into the inteval, allowing the defensive intensity of tournament MVP Erica Hintz to hold onto the lead despite a Blue Streak rally.

"We played an excellent 30 minutes," Warren Hills coach Laurie Kerr told The Star-Ledger of her team's second half. "The Warren Hills team that was in there in the first half wasn't Warren Hills. I don't know who we were, but we weren't playing our game and it cost us."

In the Passaic County Tournament, Passaic Valley (N.J.) won its second straight county tournament with a 1-0 win over Wayne Hills (N.J.). Erin Gloor's goal in the 16th minute was the difference.

"I knew it would be a competitive game and it could go either way," PV coach Cheryl Grande told The Star-Ledger. "We scrimmaged Wayne Hills early in the season, but they are a better team since then."

Another team which has improved over the course of the season is Metuchen (N.J.), which won the Greater Middlesex County Tournament with a 2-1 overtime win over South Plainfield (N.J.). It was the first championship for the program since 1991.

"We weren't going home without this win," said attacker Nikki Gassaway, whose penalty corner blast won the match in the 72nd minute, to the Star-Ledger. "I saw I had a lot of room and that I had a shot straight for the goal and I took it. Then I saw it go up and in."

The ball deflected off the bodies and sticks of two South Plainfield players before settling over the line.

MARUCA ESTABLISHES NEW TRADITIONS AT WW-P NORTH

It's been a long time since Shannon Maruca has felt this good about a field hockey team. Her Plainsboro West Windsor-Plainsboro North (N.J.) Knights have reached the final week of October undefeated and with a great chance to make a serious run in the North 2 Group III Tournament.

Maruca has taken teams deep into state tournament play before, but has never made it to a state final. Her 1998 Lawrence team was one of the closest teams in Mercer County to make the state final since 1984, only to fall in penalty strokes to Washington Warren Hills (N.J.)

But this could be the year, thanks to a number of good athletes looking to establish a new tradition at the school which is less than a decade old. Holland Thomas is a whirlwind at right wing, even though it isn't even her best sport. She is a top track hurdler.

"She is a very aggressive, fast player," Maruca tells The Princeton Packet. "That's what you need on the wing. She's really enjoying the end of the season. She's playing really well."

But she needs the entire Knight squad to play well to get through not only its first-round opponent, which could be state finalist Ridge Basking Ridge (N.J.), but the last couple of rounds of the Mercer County Tournament, which will finish just short of Halloween.

"Honestly I think it hasn't sunken in," Maruca tells The Packet. "We have a really great offense this year. We also have a great goalie. She's had two goals scored against her. We're strong offensively and defensively, even though we haven't been really tested on defense."

EASTERN NO-DOUBTS THE COMPETITION

After graduating a tremendous amount of talent the last couple of years to Division I colleges, there were doubts as to whether Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) could retool itself and maintain championship form.

Doubt no more.

The Eastern Vikings sent a shot -- no, make that a weapon of mass destruction -- over the collective bow of the field hockey establishment to open the season, besting Moorestown 6-0 at McAleer Stadium in a game widely seen as a preview of the first-in-the-nation Tournament of Champions.

The game had many back stories to it. Moorestown, heading into the season, was tied for the most state championships of any team in the history of the National Federation. Eastern was one away from the most consecutive championships in Federation history.

Eastern head coach Danyle Heilig and Moorestown skipper Meredith Elwell both played for the legendary coach Joan Lewis at Moorestown. And the biggest back story? The teams had not played each other in 12 years, despite being only about 10 miles apart down Interstate 95.

The Vikings have continued their dominance after that Moorestown win. Through the ides of October 2006, Eastern has outscored its opposition 111 to 1.

"In terms of the depth that I have, not only in the starting lineup, but the first three, four, or five off the bench, this might be the strongest team I've ever had," Heilig says. "When I put in players, I don't lose a beat."

But the weight of expectations and history are heavy. The team scored eight goals on Glassboro (N.J.), but Heilig was not necessarily happy with the win.

"The last week, haven't been doing what we have been working on since August," she says. "I want to see the product on the field look good, and that's my concern. The goals are going to come, but I'm more concerned about playing as a unit, playing well, and it being pretty."

SOUTH HUNTERDON TURNS TO ANOTHER ALUMNA

The woman who brought soccer's 4-4-2 to American scholastic field hockey in 1996 has stepped down.

Long before high-performance coaches saw it when offside was eliminated in 1996, Thyra Zengel envisioned an unrestricted attack by as few as two enterprising forwards, even whilst saddled with one of the most shallow talent pools in the country, West Amwell South Hunterdon (N.J.), enrollment 156.

And yet, the Steel and Blue always worked hard, saving their best games for downpours and defeating schools like Bridgewater-Raritan (N.J.), Clinton North Hunterdon (N.J.) and Flemington Hunterdon Central (N.J.) with school populations 20 times the size of South.

This year, Andi Burroughs, Class of 2003, takes over for Zengel, who is starting a local recreational field hockey program for the region.

"I have some very big shoes to fill, but 90 percent of what I've learned of the game came from Thyra," Burroughs tells The Lambertville Beacon. "I never thought she'd leave, but it's really quite an honor to follow her. I'm really honored to take on the program."

NEW YORK

WILLIAMSVILLE NORTH ELIMINATED IN SECTION VI FINAL

Amherst Sweet Home (N.Y.) left it late -- no, really late -- in its Section VI, Class B final against a Williamsville (N.Y.) North team which has been welcoming back junior midfielder Chantae Miller after a bout with mononucleosis.

Miller, presently on the cusp of the 20 all-time leading goal scorers in National Federation history, scored within five minutes. But the Spartans fell into a shell late, yielded a late corner, and saw Sweet Home's Lauren Korniczky put in a goal with time expired.

After two goalless sessions of extra time, the teams went to strokes. Senior Alivia Ruiz scored in the third round for Sweet Home to send Williamsville North home.

"She's one of our strong attack players," Sweet Home coach Dawn Kauderer-Kromer tells The Buffalo News. "She's tough in the circle and tough in front of the goal. She plays hard all the time."

BALDWIN TAKES BATTLE OF THE LONG ISLAND CINDERELLAS

The upper half of the Nassau County Class A bracket featured two teams which had gone through a lot to get to the Final Four.

Baldwin (N.Y.) had come into the season needing a head coach before Mike Hoover, the school's boys' lacrosse with two decades under his belt, volunteered to take the helm.

Great Neck (N.Y.) South came from the depths of its league to make its first postseason in a decade.

Of course, for one of these two Cinderellas, someone had to go home when the clock struck midnight on Halloween Night.

Baldwin came through in the end with a 5-0 win. Christine White struck just 13 seconds into the match, part of a five-point effort (three goals, two assists).

"We knew we needed to come out strong, at 100 miles an hour," Alyssa Hoover, the coach's daughter, tells Long Island Newsday.

"It's just starting to sink in now," Mike Hoover told Newsday. "I'm excited as any dad is for his kid to be playing for a county championship. But it is more special actually being part of it myself."

Baldwin and fellow finalist Massapequa (N.Y.) are attempting to fill the void left by Garden City (N.Y.), which moved down to Class B after winning the 2005 Class A championship final.

SLEEPY HOLLOW GALLOPS FORWARD

North Tarrytown Sleepy Hollow (N.Y.) has awakened itself in 2006, to the tune of a 6-3-3 record as of the first week of October.

The team earned a 1-1 draw with defending Class B state champion Putnam Valley (N.Y.), which felt like a victory to the team's seniors, who had one win in 2003.

"Our goal since we were freshmen was just to score on Putnam Valley," Christine Angevine tells The Westchester County Journal-News. "It was amazing. We had never felt that way. We reached our goal and even exceeded it."

The Headless Horsemen have had some milestones the last few years as the program has been reborn under coaches Mandy Mahncke (now the coach at Mameroneck Rye Neck) and Kelly Cronin.

The 11 seniors on this team have been through a lot, and hope to make a deep run into the sectional tournament.

"We never thought we'd get as far as we have," Angevine tells The Journal-News. "We're actually making a name for ourselves in school, finally saying that field hockey is somewhat successful. We're proud that our hard work has paid off and we can't wait to see what's coming next."

EAST ROCHESTER GETS A STATEMENT WIN

East Rochester (N.Y.), which has won the two state championships in Class C, hosted perhaps its greatest competition for that title in late September.

And against Williamsville (N.Y.) North, the Bombers were able to contain North's high-powered attack enough to allow Samantha Sortino and Samantha Cavallaro to score the goals in a 2-1 win.

Caitlin Butler had the Spartan marker off a Chantae Miller assist.

HOCKEY CAPTAIN NOT COWED BY PRESSURE

One of the field hockey captains at Pine Plains Stissing Mountain (N.Y.) has an unusual, and highly successful, hobby.

During the summer, Ashley Meiller owns, and shows, her 10 cows at the Dutchess County Fair. In 2006, she won the blue ribbon in the junior showmanship category and took third overall. Pretty heady stuff.

She is also the senior member of the school's 4H club, whose members took top honors at the county fair.

"We teach them the basics," Meiller tells The Pine Plains Register Herald. "Like, how to tell when something is wrong, or if the animal is sick."

WHAT, YOU AGAIN?

Meghan Dean's sixth varsity field hockey season (that's right, sixth) has started off with a hat trick. Marathon (N.Y.) beat Sidney (N.Y.) 7-0 in the semifinal of the Marathon Tournament.

For last year's notes, click here.