WASHINGTON TWP. -- Warren Hills' field hockey team may not be looking too far ahead, but the Blue Streaks are going to be one tough out if they continue to keep playing like they did again on Tuesday.
Senior forward
Rebecca Sigman scored her team-leading 23rd goal and added a pair of assists as Warren Hills cruised to a 5-0 win over nemesis Voorhees to clinch the Skyland Conference Raritan Division title on the turf at Warren Hills School District Stadium.
Warren Hills (19-2, 14-0 division), which has won 14 in a row, can run the table in division play with a victory at home against Phillipsburg on Wednesday afternoon in a final tuneup before the top-seeded Blue Streaks begin their march toward a sixth straight sectional title by hosting No. 9 Montville in their North 1, Group 3 opener on Friday at 2 p.m.
"We showed up to play today. They were excited and motivated," said first-year Warren Hills coach Josie Potter, whose team is the first in program history to defeat Voorhees three times in a season. "It's awesome. We played some of our best hockey today. Voorhees is a very strong team."
Warren Hills won the first two meetings against Voorhees (13-5, 12-3) -- both 2-1 scores -- in the first regular-season clash on Sept. 22 and in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament quarterfinals on Oct. 7. Going by series history, these rivals usually play tight games, but this was the most lopsided result since the Streaks scored a 5-0 win in the 2014 HWS final. It's also the most goals allowed by Voorhees this season, which also dropped 2-1 decisions to West Essex and Bridgewater-Raritan.
"I'm really happy to be a part of it," said Sigman, who needs seven goals to become just the second Warren Hills player to score at least 30 goals in a season (Dani Profita scored a record 41 in 2015). "We came into this game ready to play. It's exciting to [win the division and beat Voorhees three times]."
Senior midfielder
Tali Popinko made it 1-0 when she connected off a penalty corner -- taking a pass from freshman
Ashley Moskal on the left side and making a nice sweeping shot across the cage to put the ball into the right corner for her 14th goal of the season. Sophomore
Samantha Dugan made it 2-0 later in the first half off a feed from Sigman before Moskal gave Warren Hills a commanding three-goal cushion with 3:24 to go before the break.
"We started on our heels again and you have to be able to bounce back," said Voorhees coach Taylor Webb, who was extremely disappointed with the officiating in such a high-level game. "The refs didn't lose the game for us. Warren Hills beat us, they won the game. They have a certain style that makes you change your game. But if the officials aren't going to call stick fouls ... it killed momentum."
Dugan's goal came off a corner play that Potter had just implemented during the previous day's practice.
"We haven't been the most consistent on [corners], but when we're on, we're on, and today was one of those days," said Potter, whose team scored four of its five goals off corners. "You see some of these teams so often, you need to throw something different at them."
Sigman connected early in the second half and senior midfielder
Mikayla Dugan capped the scoring with her 10th goal in the closing seconds.
Though the offense usually generates headlines, credit what's looking like a stout Warren Hills defense for keeping Voorhees, which still owns a 33-24-6 advantage in the all-time series dating to 1975, off the board for the first time this season. Along with Ashley Moskal, backs
Sydney Moskal and
Jess DeSanto work in tandem with sweeper
Kate Fenner to form what Potter calls "The Wall" in front of goalie
Maggie Titus. Ashley Moskal, a super talented freshman, was named MVP in the Streaks' 1-0 win over Hunterdon Central on Saturday in the HWS final, while a lineup switch earlier this season, has really helped solidify the unit, which has yielded just six goals during the 14-game win streak.
"We moved Sydney [who was the sweeper all of last year] to center back and Kate to sweeper, and DeSanto has really stepped up for us," Potter said. "Maggie has only been seeing a handful of shots in the majority of games. The defense is playing at a championship level."
What was a huge question mark coming into the season is now a strength for Warren Hills as it aims for the program's 15th sectional title and a sixth straight trip to the Group 3 final after winning championships in 2014 and '15.
"They have amazed us," Sigman said of the defense. "We had Sydney coming back, but we have two sophomores [Fenner was an offensive player in 2016 and DeSanto is a first-year starter] and a freshman [A. Moskal] back there. We're just going to keep pushing and try to do our best."
Voorhees (13-5, 12-3) 0 0 -- 0
Warren Hills (19-2, 14-0) 3 2 -- 5
Scoring
First half -- WH, Tali Popinko, 14th, (Ashley Moskal), 19:52; WH, Samantha Dugan, 18th, (Rebecca Sigman), 5:24; WH, Moskal, 3rd, (Alyssa Appleby), 3:24.
Second half -- WH, Sigman, 23rd, 25:28; WH, Mikayla Dugan, 10th, (Sigman), :37.
Shots -- Voorhees 6; Warren Hills 17.
Saves -- Courtney Wellet 11, Sarah Matyas 1 (defensive) (V); Maggie Titus 5, M. Dugan 1 (defensive) (WH).
Penalty corners -- Voorhees 5; Warren Hills 9.
