Field hockey: Vikes test mettle against West Essex

NORTH CALDWELL -- Voorhees High School's field hockey team will take the good and bad from Saturday's 3-0 independent loss to West Essex.

If the Vikings are going to contend for championships later in the season, playing a state powerhouse that's annually ranked among the top five teams in New Jersey is a good measuring stick for the second game of the season.

Voorhees (1-1), which opened its season with Friday's 6-1 victory over Phillipsburg in a Skyland Conference Raritan Division clash, wasn't able to capitalize on the few opportunities it had against a West Essex program that went to the Group 2 final a year ago.

"We played against a very tough and talented West Essex team. We didn't expect anything less," said third-year Vikings coach Taylor Webb, whose 2012 team dropped a 3-0 decision to the Knights at home. "I thought we held our own. We were good at finishing things yesterday [against P'burg]. Teams like [West Essex] don't make mistakes and you can't be a step behind. You have to make more happen, because you don't get many opportunities."

West Essex (1-0), which lost 5-2 to Bishop Eustace in last year's Group 2 final, was a little sluggish to start the game. Admittedly, the tenacious Voorhees defense made veteran Knights coach Jill Cosse switch things up to spark her offense. It worked as senior forward Kaitlyn Struss scored the first goal with 8:54 left in the first half on a tip-in from senior midfielder Stepanie Pezzuti.

Just over five minutes later, West Essex took a 2-0 lead, when junior forward Gabrielle Girardi punched one into the left corner of the cage to break open a tight game.

"The Voorhees midfield was fantastic," said Cosse, whose program is 329-28-11 overall in her 17 seasons. "They took away our feeding options up the middle and forced us to go wide. So it was a combination of us having to adjust and Voorhees being super solid."

West Essex really put the game out of reach with 9:04 left, when senior back Caroline Fiore connected on a corner, the Knights' sixth of the half, to make it 3-0.

After an early corner opportunity in the first six minutes, Voorhees' offense wasn't able to put much pressure on the West Essex defense. In fact, the Vikes had all three of their corners in the first half and did not get off a shot-on-goal the entire 60 minutes. The second half was all West Essex, as the Voorhees players seemed to tire midway through and the offense rarely got past the opposing 40.

"We weren't playing efficiently on turf," Webb said. "We need to take care of the ball more."

Both teams were missing starters. West Essex was without the services of star center forward Jackie Renda (broken hand), a four-year starter who is verbally committed to Lehigh. Voorhees played without stout defender Alex Barish (undisclosed).

On the bright side for Voorhees was the play of its two talented goalkeepers -- junior Lauren Pianucci (three saves first half) and senior Kathryn Boyce (seven saves second half). Boyce really put on a display as she kept it from being a blowout with several dazzling stops.

"I thought [Boyce] was very good," Cosse said. "She stopped a lot of shots."

West Essex now holds a 6-1-1 edge, including a 3-0 mark at home, in the all-time series dating to 1996, when the schools played to a 1-1 tie. The programs have split meetings in the Group 2 semifinals -- Voorhees winning 2-1 in 2000 and West Essex prevailing 2-1 in overtime in 2002, ending Voorhees' 23-game win streak as the Vikes finished 23-1 in the final game under former coach Ann Bonavita, now Webb's assistant.

These powerful programs have a lot of mutual respect for one another and they could very well meet again at season's end with both residing in the North 1, Group 2 section that has been owned by the Knights, who have won a state record 31 sectional titles.

"We knew it was going to be a battle," Cosse said. "You see what you have and what you don't. No way these teams are playing unless you're out to win the game. We knew that going in. We knew it was going to be a great game. You're not going to beat Voorhees unless you're strong at every position or they will beat you. I thought we played pretty well."

"This was good for our confidence," Webb said. "You can't shy away from [tough competition]. We lost 3-0, not 7-0. This is a building point. We did a lot of good things."

Voorhees (1-1)                 0                   0             --   0
West Essex (1-0)              2                   1             --   3

Scoring

First half -- WE, Kaitlyn Struss (Stephanie Pezzuti), 8:54; WE, Gabrielle Girardi, 3:35.

Second half -- WE, Caroline Fiore, 9:04.

Shots -- Voorhees 0; West Essex 13.

Saves -- Lauren Pianucci 3, Kathryn Boyce 7 (V); Erin Smith 0 (WE).

Penalty corners -- Voorhees 3; West Essex 12.