Warren Hills' field hockey team is one win away from doing something that no other team in the program's 48-year history has accomplished -- capture an elusive state championship.
It's a fact not lost on the players or veteran coach Laurie Kerr, whose teams have fallen short in four of the school's previous six Group 3 final appearances. Warren Hills (22-2) can end the drought with a win over nemesis Ocean City (20-1) on Sunday in the championship game at The College of New Jersey. Start time is 2 p.m.
Warren Hills and Belvidere are the only Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex schools to reach seven state finals. The County Seaters won titles in 1989 and '90, in addition to appearances in '82, '88, '91, '92 and '96. No team from the tri-county area has won a championship since Hunterdon Central (six finals appearances) claimed the last of its three titles in 1996.
The Group 3 final will be the third game played on the turf at Lions Stadium, the former site of the Group championships before they moved to Toms River East from 2006-11. Due to Superstorm Sandy, the venue was changed and the Tournament of Champions (involving the four Group winners) that had followed the Group finals since 2006 was cancelled.
Bridgewater-Raritan will be the other Skyland Conference representative on Sunday, as coach Kathie DeBonis' Panthers face superpower Eastern for the eighth straight year in the Group 4 final at 4 p.m.
"It would be fantastic if we could both win," said Kerr, whose Streaks lost 3-1 to Bridgewater and are one win from establishing a school record for wins. "Eastern is off the charts [good]."
Bridgewater (23-1), which recently claimed its eighth sectional title (consecutively since 2005), has lost the last seven Group 4 finals to Eastern (24-0). The South Jersey school has won 14 straight sectional titles and 15 Group titles (13 straight since 1999) under coach Danyle Heilig (349-10-8 in 14 seasons). A win on Sunday would match Moorestown for the most state titles in New Jersey history with 16. Sophomore forward Austyn Cuneo needs four goals to break the state record of 70 in one season.
In the other games: Four-time champion Oak Knoll squares off against St. Joseph-Hammonton for the Group 1 crown at 10 a.m., while defending champion West Essex takes on two-time winner Bishop Eustace for the Group 2 prize at noon. West Essex, which beat Eustace in 2008 and lost to the South Jersey school in 2010, also seeks its 16th championship.
Ocean City is seeking its eighth state title and first since defeating Warren Hills in a thrilling overtime affair in '09. In that one, Colleen Slaughter converted a penalty stroke for the 2-1 win in Toms River. The Red Raiders beat the Streaks in overtime in '99 (2-1 in former coach Luanne Ferenci's final game) and 2-1 again in '01. Those two finals were played at TCNJ.
OC also won titles in 1997, '98, 2002 and '05 -- beating High Point in the '97 and '02 contests.
This one figures to be an offensive showcase.
Warren Hills features talented senior forward Niki Miller, who leads the Streaks with 25 goals and 29 assists. The UMass recruit, a freshman on the '99 runner-up team, is the school's career and single-season assists leader, as well as the single-season points leader. Miller, who ranks second on the career goals list with 61, needs two goals to match Lindsey Schott's single-season mark of 27 in 2011.
In Miller's four years, the Streaks have gone 81-13-1 overall with three conference, two Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex and two sectional titles, along with two state championship game appearances.
Super sophomores Nikki Profita (19 goals, 15 assists), Sydney Muntone (19 goals, 13 assists) and Jessica Nissen (16 goals) spearhead an offense that has produced 99 goals for an average of 4.1 per game.
"They just keep going to goal and trying to score," Kerr said. "Jessica Nissen has a real nose for the cage. Those are the things you can't teach kids -- how to score."
Profita, who has six postseason goals and seven in her last six games, is excited for the chance to make school history. Her cousin, Rebecca Pulsinelli, played in the 2001 final and Profita watched the 2009 final from the stands.
"It would be so great [to win the school's first title], especially this year because we are such a big family and we love each other," Profita said.
The offense will need to be sharp to help out a defense that has struggled of late. Through the first 19 games, the Streaks yielded a total of 13 goals. In the last five games, they've allowed 12, including nine in four state playoff games.
"We're just going to have to play our offensive-minded game," Kerr said.
Kerr said her team will also have to adjust to the AstroTurf at Lions Stadium, which plays much faster than the field turf at the Washington school's home stadium.
"It's real turf and real quick," Kerr said. "I love it because we have a quick team, but it will be an adjustment."
It won't be easy keeping a potent Ocean City attack under wraps. The Red Raiders have scored 120 goals in 21 games (5.7 per) and feature five double-digit goal scorers and five with 10 or more assists.
Junior forward Paige Broadley leads OC with 20 goals, followed by senior forward Jacquie Fenton (17, 15), sophomore Lauren McNally (17, 12), sophomore Kelly Hanna (15, 17) and junior Leah Davies (13, 10). Senior Casey Hanna has 14 assists.
Defensively, the Red Raiders have produced 18 shutouts. Besides an 8-1 loss to Eastern, OC allowed two goals to Moorestown and two in a 4-2 regular-season win over Camden Catholic.
Ocean City's home field has been unplayable ever since Sandy -- forcing the Red Raiders to play all of their state games on the road.
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