NJSIAA: Red Devils return to glory with title victory

Hunterdon Central's field hockey team made it a top priority this season to restore the program's winning tradition.

Mission accomplished.

The sixth-seeded Red Devils continued their amazing postseason run with a stunning 2-1 victory over top-seeded Montgomery on Monday in the North 2, Group 4 sectional final at Cougar Stadium in Skillman.

Central (14-9) captured its 12th sectional title and first since 2007 -- an outstanding accomplishment considering the Hunterdon County school won only three games a year ago.

"The kids are great and they wanted to bring Central hockey back to what it's known for," said veteran coach Jenn Sponzo, who has guided the program to six sectional titles in her 12 seasons. "Too many people wrote us off. I knew they had it in them [to win a championship]."

Hunterdon Central will meet a familiar foe in the next round as it faces North 1 champion Bridgewater-Raritan in Thursday's Group 4 semifinals. Coach Kathie DeBonis' Panthers swept both of the Skyland Conference Delaware Division meetings this season, 7-1 on Sept. 26 and 4-1 on Oct. 25.

Perennial champion Eastern and Freehold Township meet in the other semifinal. The winners will play for the Group 4 title on Sunday at Toms River East. Central won the last of its Group 4 titles in 1996, losing four times to Eastern in the final since in 2001, '02, '03 and '04.

Winning the sectional title was certainly sweet for a program that went a combined 8-26-1 the last two seasons after reaching its last sectional final in 2008. The Red Devils did it the hard way, beating the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 seeds in the draw.

Senior forward Kim Engelhart, who scored the decisive goal in the second half, was proud to bring honor back to Hunterdon Central field hockey.

"It's amazing. We did the impossible in a way," said Engelhart, who leads the team with 19 goals including three in the playoffs. "No one expected us to do it. Last year [going 3-12-1] was rough. We really came together as a team and our coaches believed in us. I commend Montgomery, they played a great game."

Montgomery (15-5-1) was seeking its first-ever title in its first championship game appearance. The program was started in 2002 and the Cougars fell, 1-0, to eventual Group 4 runner-up Bridgewater-Raritan in last year's semifinals.

Central came out firing and grabbed an early 1-0 lead that helped set the tone. Senior midfielder Kristen Given connected for her seventh goal of the season just over six minutes in and the Red Devils gained the early momentum.

"That first goal was huge," said Sponzo, whose 2009 team beat Montgomery, 4-2, in their previous meeting after the conference realigned the divisions and eliminated crossover games for the 2010 season.

Montgomery got the equalizer right before the half, as junior forward Erica Hrudowsky knocked in a rebound off a penalty corner.

After a back-and-forth second half, Engelhart found the back of the cage with 13:24 left to play. Her shot was a slow roller that somehow slipped in behind the defense and goalie Sarah Zach, who made several outstanding kick saves in the second half, robbing Engelhart of what looked to be a sure goal on a corner at the 23-minute mark.

"I hit it and I thought, 'That's not going in,'" Engelhart said of her game-winner. "You can usually tell. It did and we were winning. Kristen got us going early and as a six seed to score the first goal is big. The same thing happened on Friday [when Engelhart scored first in a 2-1 win over West Windsor-North in the semifinals]."

The Central defense played a huge role in winning this championship. The Red Devils were particularly outstanding on corners as they barely allowed any quality shots to the Cougars, who had 15 opportunities.

Junior goalie Fran Orella, in her first varsity season, stopped six shots including one off the pads on a drive by sophomore Philly Lumsden with 20:17 left in the second half. Central also held Montgomery's outstanding midfielder Shari Jones in check for most of the day.

"We really worked on [corners] and our defense did a phenomenal job," Sponzo said.

Junior midfielder/back Chloe Maurice was at the forefront of helping to shut down the Cougars and controlling the middle of the field.

"We came in really determined to shut them down and we rose to the occasion," Maurice said. "We wanted to prove to everybody that we were better than a six seed. The past few years haven't been that great and we really wanted to bring [a title] back. Central has always had a great field hockey program."

And now it has another trophy to add to its collection.

Hunterdon Central (14-9)                 1                   1             --   2
Montgomery (15-5-1)                       1                   0             --   1

Scoring

First half -- HC, Kristen Given, 7th, (Nicole Barrett), 23:44; M, Erica Hrudowsky, 16th, 1:35.

Second half -- HC, Kim Engelhart, 19th, (Ally Baligian), 13:24.

Shots -- Hunterdon Central 6; Montgomery 6.

Saves -- Fran Orella 4, Emily Zengel 1 (defensive) (HC); Sarah Zach 4 (M).

Penalty corners -- Hunterdon Central 7; Montgomery 15.