Field hockey: Seaters shake up HWS Tournament

Belvidere may be a small school in Warren County, but the County Seaters scored one of its biggest field hockey wins in decades on Saturday.

With a stunning 3-2 victory at top-seeded Hunterdon Central in the quarterfinals, Belvidere advanced to the semifinal round of the 10th annual Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament for just the second time in program history and first since 2011.

"I would say so," said Beth Franceschino, when asked if this was the program's biggest win since she started her second stint as head coach in 2014.

Belvidere (9-3-1), which is the second No. 8 seed to win in the quarters since Central knocked off Newton in 2015, takes on No. 4 Hackettstown (11-2-1) on Saturday at 6 p.m., while No. 7 Voorhees (11-4) travels to No. 3 Warren Hills (10-4-1) for the other semifinal matchup at 1 p.m. The winners will meet in the championship game at Newton High School's Palmer Field on Saturday, Oct. 20.

Belvidere celebrates with a team selfie after its win at Hunterdon Central.

In order to reach its first HWS final and the program's first county title game appearance since 1993, Belvidere, which has won four in a row and five of its last six, must avenge an earlier 6-2 loss at Hackettstown on Sept. 22.

It won't be an easy task as the Tigers feature a talented and quick forward line.

"Their front line moves the ball so fast," said Franceschino (formerly Pursell), a senior on Belvidere's 1992 Hunterdon-Warren Tournament title team, which was the county's first championship.

"We need to cut off their passes and double up where we can. Once we got the ball past their offense [in the first meeting], we scored two goals."

Belvidere's offense starts with the 1-2 punch of senior forwards Maddie Call (8 goals, 8 assists) and Abby Bronico (7 goals). Franceschino said moving senior Mallory Keenan, a former defensive player, to the midfield has also opened up things on offense. Keenan leads the team with 10 goals. Sophomore forward Olivia Zmyewski (7 goals) and senior left wing Angie Santini (6 goals) are also making an impact. Zmyewski scored the decisive goal against Hunterdon Central -- giving the Seaters a commanding 3-1 lead in the second half.

Defensively, senior Anya Logan is one of the area's top goalies and has orchestrated seven shutouts this season. She will play for former Bangor (Pa.) Area High School star Susan Ciufo's Stonehill College program next fall.

HWS Tournament title hopes aside, Belvidere, now 9-9 overall in tri-county games, has its eye on winning its first sectional title since 1996. The County Seaters, who dropped a 2-1 OT heartbreaker against eventual champ Wallkill Valley in last year's semifinals, figure to be one of the favorites in North 1, Group 1.

"We had a rough start [to the season] with the weather, but I'm hopeful with the way we've been playing lately," said Franceschino, whose teams are 58-27-6 over the past five seasons. "The really telling thing as a team is we're moving the ball more instead of waiting for it to happen like we were in the beginning of the season."

Belvidere will look to keep it moving in the right direction as we head into the stretch run. With just four regular-season games remaining, the Seaters have a chance to come away with at least a share of the Skyland Conference Mountain Division title, despite a 1-0 loss (Sept. 11) and a 0-0 tie (Oct. 2) against nemesis South Hunterdon.

The Seaters are 5-2-1 in divisional play with two to go against North Plainfield (Monday) and Somerville (TBA), and will likely need to win both, while South Hunterdon (6-1-1) also has two divisional games left against Mount St. Mary (Monday) and Valley Division favorite Bernards (Wednesday).

HWS semifinal breakdowns:

Belvidere at Hackettstown -- It's hard to not think about that 6-2 result from the first meeting, and the Tigers' high-powered offense, which is averaging four goals per game. A senior-laden group is led by midfielder Madison Hoskins (14 goals, 12 assists), forward Kayla Cichlar (9 goals, 5 assists), midfielder Jessica Scheper (8 goals) and sophomore forward Megan Doyle (8 goals, 5 assists). But Belvidere has been coming on of late and the win over Central should be a major confidence boost for a well-coached team. I think it comes down to offensive firepower, and the Tigers have a little more in that department. The pick: Hackettstown, 3-1.

Voorhees at Warren Hills -- This has been the area's premiere rivalry for some time now and more fuel was added to the fire with Voorhees' dominating 4-2 win at Warren Hills in the last meeting on Oct. 2, which avenged a 3-1 loss at home to the Blue Streaks and put the Vikes, who have won seven straight since a 4-1 loss at Bernards on Sept. 22, in great shape to win the Skyland Conference Raritan Division title. Junior right wing Cassie Boyce (15 goals, 11 assists), who is on quite a roll with seven goals and six assists in the team's last seven games, and junior center forward Brooke Hyland (18 goals, 6 assists) are leading a potent offense. Emily Matyas, the only senior in the starting lineup, has scored three goals in the last three games, while Lauren Kokoskie (5 goals, 8 assists) is directing it all in the midfield. Scoring has been a bit of an issue for Warren Hills, which is 4-2 all-time against Voorhees in HWS play and finally broke out with a season high for goals in a 6-1 win at Phillipsburg on Tuesday -- its first game with more than three goals since Sept. 13. Sophomore forward Simryn Desai is an emerging force with a team-best 11 goals, including three against P'burg. Unfortunately for the Streaks, injuries keep taking their toll as sophomore Julianna Valli is out indefinitely with a concussion. The pick: Voorhees, 2-1.