Field hockey: Roncoroni returns to coach Vikes

It's all part of the plan for former Voorhees star Kathryn Roncoroni, who was named the ninth head coach in program history at the end of the 2020-21 school year.

The Vikings' all-time leading scorer has come home after several years of college and coaching abroad. Roncoroni, who played collegiately at American University and West Chester, where she helped the Golden Rams capture a Division II national title in 2019, takes over for Shannon Hughes. 

Hughes, a former star at South Plainfield, led the program to a 47-13-1 mark, two Skyland Conference division titles (2018 and '20) and the Central West A championship in 2020 over the past three seasons.

"We kept it pretty quiet. I only talked to my family about it," Roncoroni said of the hiring process. "Since I was younger, I wanted to be a field hockey coach. That was always the plan when I graduated college."

Roncoroni scored 140 career goals for the Vikes.

Roncoroni, 22, inherits a program that has been regarded as a New Jersey state power since the early 1990s -- then guided by Ann Bonavita, who remains the winningest coach in program history with a mark of 202-29-8 from 1992-2002. But there is some work to be done on the youth level to get the Vikes back to challenging for a Group 2 state championship with the likes of West Essex and Rumson-Fair Haven.

Roncoroni, who is holding down three jobs as she searches for a full-time teaching position in either art or elementary education, previously coached at the Swansea Hockey Club in Wales, along with former Warren Hills star and West Chester teammate, Katie Thompson, who scored the decisive goal in the 2-1 win over Saint Anselm in the 2019 Division II title game. Roncoroni assisted on the Rams' other goal.

"With COVID and everything, I came home early from the U.K," Roncoroni said. "This was the perfect opportunity to get practicing as a coach."

Voorhees provides Roncoroni the perfect opportunity to lead a bigtime high school program, which now has two successful alumni at the helm. Junior varsity coach Angie (D'Armiento) Emmert was a senior on the Vikes' Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament championship team in 2012.

"I haven't been back in a long time," Roncoroni said. "Now working with Coach E and playing with her in high school, it's come full circle."

In her final high school game, Roncoroni scored both of Voorhees' goals in a 3-2 loss to Madison in the 2015 North 2, Group 2 sectional final. She finished that season with a school record 51 goals to go with 14 assists.

Roncoroni claimed all but one offensive record in Voorhees' fine field hockey history -- owning single-season records for goals (51) and points (116), along with career marks for goals (140) and points (319). Former coach Taylor Webb still owns the Vikes' record for career assists (58 from 1999-02).

Webb, who guided Voorhees to an overall mark of 112-31-4 in seven seasons from 2011-17, and was a star midfielder for the Vikes before going to play at Iowa and Rider, is pleased that one of her former players is now in charge.

"I think she will do a great job," Webb said of Roncoroni, a proven winner as a player.

Voorhees went 14-1-1 in '20 and has 682 wins.

Voorhees will be a very young team this coming season, which begins with official practices starting on Aug. 16. Leading the way will be senior midfielder/back and Montclair State recruit Sadie Eichlin, who is coming off a stellar junior season. Eichlin, one of the top players in the HWS area and a defensive stalwart, scored nine goals to go with 13 assists after shifting to the center midfield spot in 2020.

One thing that has changed since Roncoroni's high school days is that North Hunterdon will be the team to beat in Hunterdon County. The Lions are loaded and coming off an 11-3 campaign in which they snapped the program's 41-game drought -- spanning 30 years -- against the Vikes with a 3-0 win on Nov. 2.

New North leader

Speaking of North Hunterdon, Geoff Chrisman takes over the head coaching duties after serving as an assistant under former coach Maria Bachert, who guided the Lions to a 32-42 mark in four seasons and the program's first winning season in 10 years in 2020. That year culminated with North's first sectional title game appearance since 1993 -- a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Hunterdon Central in North 2, Group 4.

Last season, North went 11-3 and was ousted by Ridge -- 2-1 in double overtime in the Central West B semifinals -- after splitting the regular season series with the Red Devils. That loss will be a driving force for the Lions in 2021.

"I'm really excited to be working with the program and a phenomenal group of kids," said Chrisman, who also has 16 years of coaching experience in lacrosse. "They were really disappointed with how they finished last year and we have the whole team back."

Leading the way will be the speedy 1-2 punch of junior Lauren Masters and senior Ryan Anderson, who combined for 82 goals and 66 assists over the previous two seasons. 

Masters, the program's all-time points leader who led all HWS scorers with 26 goals and 59 points in 2020, has 56 career goals and is two shy of owning the program's all-time mark -- currently held by Beth Gromlowicz (57 from 1983-86), one of the school's greatest athletes. 

Anderson, who logged an area-best 26 assists in 2019 and 18 in '20, is North's career leader with 50.

"They are elite athletes with the things they do," Chrisman said. "They are a pretty fast set of forwards. With [senior] Olivia Reeder [10 goals, 11 assists in 2020] that's a pretty good group."

Flick-ins

There are a total of five new coaches in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area for the 2021 season.

Michelle (Ryan) Smith takes over at South Hunterdon for Stephanie Davis-Hart, who guided the Eagles to an overall mark of 72-48-3 over the previous seven seasons. South's season ended with a 4-0 loss to Voorhees in the 2020 Central West A semifinals.

At North Warren, Carie Murphy replaces Brian Gravatt, whose teams went 24-71-6 over the previous six seasons. The Patriots went 0-7 last year and scored a total of two goals in a pandemic-shortened campaign.

Former assistant Tiffany Kuhl is now in charge at Delaware Valley, which went 94-79-7 under Stephanie Rifflard the previous 10 seasons and reached the North 2, Group 2 semifinals in 2017.

Warren Hills, coming off a 14-0 season and winning the Northwest C championship, was hit hard by graduation as the program lost 11 seniors (nine starters). The Blue Streaks will be young, but plenty talented as seniors Maddie Summitt (forward) and Emily Dvorsky (back) are among the top area players. Summitt led the team with 18 goals in 2020.

Hills won at least 20 games nine of the last 12 seasons.

Coach Josie Potter's team, which will look to extend the program's streak of nine straight sectional championships and 10 consecutive finals appearances, also has its sights on a Group 3 state title, something that has eluded the Streaks since going back-to-back for the school's only state championships in 2014-15.

Hills starts that march with a scrimmage against state powerhouse Oak Knoll at home on Aug. 24 at 4 p.m. The Streaks open the regular season at Hackettstown on Thursday, Sept. 9 -- their only non-conference game on the regular-season schedule. Other key dates include: Bridgewater-Raritan at home on Sept. 18; North Hunterdon at home on Sept. 30; at Hunterdon Central on Oct. 5; Voorhees at home on Oct. 16.