Here's this year's complete schedule:
Pigtails on Saturday, Sept. 29 at the higher seeds, with the winners advancing to the eight pre-quarterfinal round contests on Saturday, Oct. 6 at the higher seeds. The quarterfinals are slated for Saturday, Oct. 13 at the higher seeds with the semifinals to be played on Saturday, Oct. 20.
The championship game will be held on Saturday, Oct. 27 at a neutral site.
But first thing's first, the teams must be paired and seeded, which takes place midweek.
Seeds are determined by a coach's vote -- the Hunterdon-Warren coaches determined their bracket and vice versa for Sussex. Now, I truly believe a majority of coaches vote their conscience. That being said, I also believe they vote with their team's interest in mind -- of course they do -- but I also feel there is a lot blind voting in that some coaches just aren't that familiar with teams in their area.
Do we change the process? If so, how? Good questions to be certain. I don't believe we should leave it in the hands of athletic directors, most of whom have not seen a lot of field hockey and a few who really have no working knowledge of the sport.
Here's my two cents -- probably about the right price -- if I was doing the voting. And I'm not campaigning too either. I will predict this to be the most wide open tournament yet and plenty of higher seeds will fall in the early rounds.
Based on my votes, Lenape Valley would host North Hunterdon in an 8-9 matchup, while No. 10 North Warren would travel to No. 7 Sparta for Saturday's pigtail round.
Here are the other matchups (A-Sussex, B-H/W):
Top bracket
8B-Belvidere at 1A-High Point5A-Vernon at 4B-Phillipsburg
6B-South Hunterdon at 3A-Newton
Sparta-North Warren winner at 2B-Hunterdon Central
Bottom bracket
Lenape Valley-North Hunterdon winner at 1B-Warren Hills5B-Hackettstown at 4A-Pope John
6A-Kittatinny at 3B-Voorhees
7B-Delaware Valley at 2A-Wallkill Valley
Here are my seeds with records and info:
Hunterdon-Warren
2. Hunterdon Central (4-3) -- Tough call here between 2 and 3, but I feel the Red Devils have played a tougher schedule thus far with games against Bridgewater (4-0 loss) and fellow Delaware Division unbeaten Pingry (3-2 loss). Coach Jenn Sponzo's team also faces Phillipsburg and Warren Hills in the coming weeks.
3. Voorhees (3-1-1) -- The Vikings, who won their first HWS title in 2010, recently took a 3-1 loss to Warren Hills and owns a win over P'burg. One question, though, why don't they play in-county rival Hunterdon Central?
4. Phillipsburg (4-3) -- With losses to Warren Hills and Voorhees, the Stateliners belong no higher. Coach Jen Paulus' team is looking for that signature win this season and this tournament could provide an opportunity to do so.
5. Hackettstown (4-2) -- Tigers are on the upswing this season and recently knocked off defending NJAC Freedom Division champion Wallkill Valley -- 1-0 on Friday. Tough to vote on a team that hasn't played anyone outside of North Warren -- a fellow NJAC member -- in its own county or in Hunterdon.
6. South Hunterdon (5-1) -- Eagles are another tough team to figure since they have only played Belvidere -- a 1-0 win on Sept. 13. The Skyland Valley Division is certainly not as tough as the two upper divisions, though South is much improved and gave a good account against High Point last year.
7. Delaware Valley (3-3) -- Terriers have lost to Warren Hills and Voorhees, and had a game with P'burg wiped out by Tuesday's rain. Narrow 1-0 wins over Somerville and North Hunterdon are why they aren't higher, though I believe Del Val can play with some higher seeds.
8. Belvidere (3-3-1) -- County Seaters just played to a 3-3 tie with North Hunterdon on Saturday and have won two of three since dropping three in a row, including losses to P'burg and South Hunterdon.
9. North Hunterdon (0-5-1) -- Lions are having a rough start but three goals -- their first three of the season -- against Belvidere could be the start of a more positive swing. In three losses, North held its opponents to one goal.
10. North Warren (2-5) -- Patriots are playing their first season in the NJAC and snapped a four-game slide with a 1-0 win in overtime against Lenape Valley on Friday. North's other win was out of state.
Sussex
2. Wallkill Valley (4-2-1) -- Rangers are having a bit of an up-and-down campaign with a narrow 2-1 win over North Warren in a game they trailed 1-0 at the half and a 0-0 tie with Pope John. Both in stark contrast to a 1-0 win over nemesis Newton. In seven games, Wallkill has five goals.
3. Newton (5-2) -- Braves just played a tough one against NJAC Freedom Division leader Parsippany -- a 1-0 loss on Friday. Along with the aforementioned loss to Wallkill, coach Lisa Bechtel's team owns 1-0 wins over Hackettstown and Kittatinny. The loss of senior forward Melanie Rudio (out for the season following knee surgery) is a killer.
4. Pope John (3-3-2) -- First-year coach Gina DiMaio -- no stranger to winning county titles having won a pair of Hunterdon-Warren titles while at Hackettstown -- has the Lions playing well of late. After an 0-2-1 start, PJ has won three of five, including a nice 3-1 win over Vernon on Thursday. Those recent wins were sandwiched around a 0-0 tie with Wallkill and a competitive 2-0 loss to High Point.
5. Vernon (3-4) -- Vikings reached the quarterfinals last year, but graduated a lot of their offensive firepower. Their only in-county win was a 4-0 victory over Sparta on Sept. 10.
6. Kittatinny (2-5) -- Cougars are still trying to find their way in the young season and are coming off back-to-back 1-0 losses to Newton and Jefferson in the NJAC Freedom Division. They do own wins over Lenape Valley and North Warren.
7. Sparta (1-5) -- After snapping a long losing streak with a win on opening day, the Spartans have lost five in a row, though they've certainly been more competitive this season as evidenced by two one-goal losses.
8. Lenape Valley (0-5) -- Patriots scored their only goal of the season in a 2-1 loss to Kittatinny on Sept. 15. They also have two overtime losses to Hackettstown and North Warren.
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