The joys of youth and innocence.
Despite a big 3-1 win over its arch-rival on Wednesday, Warren Hills' field hockey team was relatively subdued following just its sixth victory over Voorhees in the last decade -- a span of 22 meetings.
The Blue Streaks are a fairly young bunch with four sophomores in the starting lineup and a slew of underclassmen on the roster. Yet, the victory wasn't lost on the senior members, including forward/midfielder Niki Miller who scored one goal and assisted on another.
"Since my freshman year it's been back-and-forth," said Miller, who is now 3-3-1 against the Vikings in her four seasons. "We always have the mentality that we have to beat Voorhees. We're the defending [Skyland] conference [Raritan Division] champions and we don't want to lose that position. We have a lot of younger kids, mostly sophomores, and we don't have too many that know [the series history]."
Warren Hills, ranked No. 1 in the Open Mike area, has started a season 5-0 for the sixth time under veteran coach Laurie Kerr, now 6-15-3 against Voorhees. Miller, who played mostly center forward in this one, capped the scoring with her team-leading fifth goal in the second half.
It gave the Streaks some breathing room as they entered the final 30 minutes nursing a one-goal lead.
"Jessica Nissen passed it over and I saw the line, and the goalie [Kathryn Boyce] had it on her stick," said Miller, who is playing with a broken nose sustained in the offseason while playing in China on the Junior Nationals team. "I just pulled it back and flicked it in."
Junior forward Shannon Zignoli got Warren Hills on the board quickly with her third goal of the season just 1:54 into the contest.
But No. 3 Voorhees (2-1-1, 2-1-1) rallied after a slow start to tie the game with just 4:45 left before halftime. The Vikes, who still hold a 28-16-6 edge in the all-time series, didn't get their first penalty corner until the six-minute mark. The goal by junior Emily Scheier -- the first of her career that followed their second corner -- knotted things at 1.
But sophomore Nikki Profita didn't waste time giving Warren Hills the lead for good when she converted off a feed from sophomore Sydney Muntone on a corner with 1:11 left before the break. Despite a 9-1 edge in corners in the first half, neither team got an opportunity for another in the second half.
"We passed really well in the first half and [Voorhees] gave us some passing lanes," Kerr said. "One thing we need to work on is forcing corners, instead of trying to go for goals. They're used to scoring, but we need to learn when to shoot and when to try and create scoring opportunities. We played more of a safe game. We didn't do anything too high risk because you don't want to give chances to a team like Voorhees."
Despite allowing the late first-half goal, second-year Voorhees coach Taylor Webb thought her team was still in good shape heading into the half.
"Many games you're down by one at the half," said Webb, now 1-2 as a coach in the rivalry. "We knew what we had to do. We had some moments in the second half that were better than the first half, but we didn't sustain things long enough. I don't think we had as much purpose on our passes. We didn't play our system which is stick-to-stick passing. Warren Hills was in the right [defensive] postions, but we made it easier for them."
Kerr was extremely pleased with the way her young group rose to the occasion of such a big game.
"We are very young and I thought there'd be a little more excitement [after the game]," said the coach, now in her 13th season at the helm of her alma mater. "It was just another game for them. These sophomores won 22 games last year, so it was just another day at the office. I believe in this team and we battled back."
Voorhees (2-1-1, 2-1-1) 1 0 -- 1
Warren Hills (5-0, 4-0) 2 1 -- 3
Scoring
First half -- WH, Shannon Zignoli, 3rd, (Niki Miller), 28:06; V, Emily Scheier, 1st, (Kathryn Roncoroni), 4:45; WH, Nikki Profita, 2nd, (Sydney Muntone), 1:11.
Second half -- WH, Miller, 5th, (Jessica Nissen), 17:40.
Shots -- Voorhees 7; Warren Hills 10.
Saves -- Lauren Pianucci 4, Kathryn Boyce 3 (V); Katie Wintersteen 6 (WH).
Penalty corners -- Voorhees 1; Warren Hills 9.
Officials -- Ruth Gibbs and Mary Bradley.
In NJAC action on Wednesday:
Wallkill Valley 2, North Warren 1 -- Courtney Berado and Rachel Fiedler scored second-half goals for the Rangers (4-1-1, 4-0), who overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit. Senior midfielder Kayla Devaney scored for the Patriots (1-5, 0-5).
Parsippany 4, Hackettstown 3 (OT) -- Senior forward Stefania Swider connected for her third goal of the season as Kelly Healy and Kate Lyng also connected for the Tigers (3-2, 3-2), who held a 2-0 halftime lead in this NJAC Freedom Division clash.
Newton 1, Kittatinny 0 -- Senior midfielder Stephanie Mocerino connected for the winning goal off an assist from junior Katherine Kellenberger as the Braves (5-1, 4-1) won the night affair on the new turf at Palmer Field. Goalie Audrey Kelly made nine saves for the shutout.
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