Monday, October 12, 2020

Field hockey: Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex rankings

Warren Hills' field hockey team is proving to be the one constant in this anything but normal year and unprecedented high school sports fall season. 

The Blue Streaks, with 10 seniors, are loaded with talent, but fourth-year coach Josie Potter is "taking nothing for granted" despite the group's dominating performances thus far.

"The team is looking at it like every day [on the field] may be our last one," said Potter, whose team outscored its opponents, 25-2, through four games and made her the fastest in program history to record 70 coaching wins. "I think that's the only way to approach the season."

This will surely be a season like no other. Normally, we'd be a good month into the campaign with the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament about to commence. Instead, we have a shortened slate of what will amount to about a dozen or so games (no independent contests), while the tri-county tournament was canceled well before the season began. Also, there will be no state championships only sectional titles, which will be determined statewide on Nov. 21.

Warren Hills (4-0) has won eight straight sectional titles and the Streaks, who would have been strong contenders to capture the Group 3 state trophy, will be favored to earn their ninth in a row and 18th overall this fall. Still, there are goals to be had for this talented group in a season that wasn't looking too promising several months ago.

"We're very fortunate to get a season -- spring [sports] did not," said Potter, whose team was slated to open the season against state power Eastern before the pandemic altered schedules. "We're going to do our best to win as many as we can. I am a track coach and that was difficult for us. We know [the fall] season can end not by our choice."

It hasn't been easy. Football has had issues and shutdowns due to coronavirus outbreaks and the field hockey schedules have been affected as well. High Point and Sparta finally getting underway last week, while North Warren hasn't played since Oct. 5 and has no scheduled games for this week. With no real testing plan in place, just temperature checks, it will be challenging to identify and contain the virus.

There are some divisional changes as well. Voorhees, which has long battled Warren Hills for Skyland Conference Raritan Division honors, dropped to the Valley Division, where the Vikes will be heavy favorites on most days. Unfortunately that also means no matchup with the Streaks this season for the first time since 1999. Valley Division teams only crossover against Mountain Division foes.

Traditional Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference divisions also have a new look by geography. One has Hackettstown, Lenape Valley and North Warren with Jefferson, while another features High Point, Kittatinny, Newton, Vernon and Wallkill Valley. Pope John and Sparta are housed in a seven-team setup with Mount Olive, Morris Hills, Morris Knolls, Randolph and Roxbury.

Now onto the first set of our weekly rankings:

1. Warren Hills (4-0) -- Blue Streaks, who seek the program's ninth consecutive sectional title, feature 10 seniors, including speedy forward and Hofstra University commit Simryn Desai, who became the 16th player in program history to reach 100 career points in the team's 8-1 rout of Bridgewater-Raritan last Thursday for a commanding 28-11-1 lead in that all-time series. Junior Maddie Summitt is off to a blistering start with a team-best nine goals and four assists, including a pair of goals in the team's 5-0 win at Phillipsburg on Saturday that stretched Hills' win streak in that series to 26 in a row dating to 2007 and gave Potter her 70th career victory.

Up next: Pingry at home on Tuesday; at Ridge on Thursday.

2. North Hunterdon (4-0) -- Lions are off to their best start in over a decade behind the 1-2 punch of sophomore Lauren Masters and junior Ryan Anderson, who combined for three goals and two assists in a big 3-0 win over Hunterdon Central last Thursday in a rematch of last year's North 2, Group 4 sectional final -- a 2-1 loss for North, which reached its first title game since 1993. Masters leads the Lions with nine goals, including three in that win over Central. Coach Maria Bachert's team eyes a huge showdown against Warren Hills in two weeks.

Up next: Hillsborough at home on Tuesday; at Phillipsburg on Thursday.

3. Voorhees (5-0) -- Vikings have reaped the benefits of playing in the Skyland Conference Valley Division as coach Shannon Hughes' team outscored opponents 35-3 through five games. Senior forward Katie McLean notched three goals in the season-opening 9-1 victory over Somerville and capped last week with three assists in an 8-0 win at Bernards. Junior Sadie Eichlin hasn't missed a beat moving to the midfield with six goals and five assists.

Up next: North Plainfield at home on Tuesday; at Somerville on Thursday. 

4. Hunterdon Central (2-2) -- Red Devils opened with one of the toughest slates in the area as coach Jenn Sponzo picked up her 300th career win -- 2-1 at Ridge on Oct. 3 -- followed by losses to nemesis Bridgewater-Raritan and North Hunterdon last week. Senior midfielder Sarah Woods (two goals) and junior forward Jennifer Tokash (two goals) paced the offense in the early going this season.

Up next: at Montgomery on Tuesday; Hillsborough at home on Thursday.

5. Belvidere (3-0-1) -- County Seaters opened the season with a 1-0 win over longtime nemesis South Hunterdon and followed that up with lopsided victories against Bernards (5-1 on Oct. 3) and Delaware Valley (4-0 on Oct. 6). Senior forward and Pace University recruit Olivia Zmyewski leads the team with seven assists, while senior forward Marianna Crisafulli and sophomore Kayla Connors each produced three goals through four games.

Up next: No games scheduled this week.

6. South Hunterdon (4-1) -- Eagles rebounded from a season-opening 1-0 loss to Belvidere with four straight victories, including a 3-0 win over Delaware Valley on Saturday in which senior  midfielder Rebecca Phillips scored her first two goals of the year. Senior forward Chandler Storcella is off to a hot start with three goals, while sophomore Sarah Faherty logged five goals against North Plainfield on Oct. 6.

Up next: at Franklin on Tuesday; at Mount St. Mary on Thursday.

7. Phillipsburg (2-3) -- Stateliners opened the campaign with a 3-0 win at Montgomery and rolled to a 3-0 victory at Pingry last Thursday around tough losses to Bridgewater-Raritan, Ridge and Warren Hills -- a 5-0 setback on Saturday. Sophomore forwards Grace Merrick and Samantha Helman were key players in the those wins for coach Toni Popinko's team.

Up next: Watchung Hills at home on Tuesday; North Hunterdon at home on Thursday.

8. Newton (3-0) -- Braves cruised to wins over Kittatinny and Hackettstown to open the season as junior forward Sidney Pavlishin found the back of the cage twice in a 7-1 victory over the Cougars. Senior foward Elissar Abou-Jaoude added three goals in that one, while junior forward Bridget Kerrick scored twice in a 3-1 win over the Tigers.

Up next: No games scheduled this week.

9. Delaware Valley (0-3) -- Terriers are off to a tough start having scored just one goal through their first three games -- losses to Belvidere, Voorhees and South Hunterdon. Junior forward Samantha Snowden scored in a 3-1 loss to Voorhees last Thursday. Look for the offense to get going this week with winnable games on the road.

Up next: at Somerville on Tuesday; at North Plainfield on Thursday.

10. Vernon (1-0) -- Vikings scored a 1-0 victory at Wallkill Valley to open the 2020 season as senior forward Alyssa Van Dalinda recorded the decisive goal with an assist from freshman Sidney Van Tassel in her varsity debut. Speaking of debuts, junior goalie Caitlin Witters logged four saves for her first career shutout.

Up next: at Kittatinny on Tuesday; at Lenape Valley on Thursday.

Posted by Mike Weilamann at 6:01 PM

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