Field hockey: North 'ready to fly' in 1st trip to TOC

It's been a memorable and history-making season for North Hunterdon's field hockey team. But it's not over yet.

The Lions, as a result of capturing the school's first field hockey state championship with their 1-0 win over Moorestown in the Group 3 final on Saturday at Bordentown Regional High School, will next test their mettle in the prestigious Tournament of Champions. 

NH claimed the HWS area's first state title since 2015.

North (21-1), which has won 13 straight and is one victory shy of matching the 1986 team for most in a season, drew the No. 2 seed and will host Oak Knoll (21-3), the Non-Public champion, at 2 p.m. on Wednesday in one semifinal matchup at Singley Field.

In the other semifinal, No. 1 Eastern (23-2), which has won eight TOCs and handed Phillipsburg an 8-0 loss in the Group 4 title game, is slated to host Group 2 champion West Essex (23-2), a 7-0 winner over Group 1 power Shore Regional (25-2) in Monday's preliminary game. The semifinal winners meet in the championship tilt at 7 p.m. on Friday at Kean University. 

"We're going to prepare like we normally do and just play our game," said North senior Katie Roberts, who scored the winning goal off a first-quarter penalty corner against Moorestown. "And hope for the best."

North Hunterdon's first appearance (joining Warren Hills which won Group 3 titles in 2014-15 as the only HWS area teams to qualify) in the 14th TOC will likely be the last. That's because the event, which began in 2006 and was not contested in 2012 (Hurricane Sandy) and '20 (COVID-19), is seemingly set to be eliminated after this season. A movement to do so passed an initial reading during a recent NJSIAA committee meeting.

First-year coach Geoff Chrisman's team, particularly the seniors, began laying the groundwork for one of the most remarkable turnarounds in Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area history three years ago. North, which went 22-140-6 in the nine years leading up to a 15-8 season in 2019, its first winning season since 2009, finished 4-14 in '18.

After an 11-3 finish and a loss in the Central West B regional semis during a pandemic-shortened  2020, North won the Skyland Conference Raritan Division (the program's first conference title since 1991) and its first HWS Tournament championship this year leading up to winning the school's third sectional title and first in 28 years. The state title is Hunterdon County's seventh overall and first since 1996, when Hunterdon Central, which lost 9-0 to Eastern in the 2019 Group 4 final, won the last of its three championships (1992, 93, '96). South Hunterdon (1976, '84 and '88) is the only other county school to win a state title, while Voorhees is the only other to reach a final, going 0-2 in Group 2 (2000 and 2006).

NH celebrates Hunterdon County's first title since 1996.

"They are a true team and their culture is what got us here," Chrisman said following his team's win against Moorestown.

Led by the 1-2 punch of junior forward Lauren Masters and senior forward Ryan Anderson, North, which has scored an impressive 146 goals this season and had not logged fewer than three in another contest this season before Saturday, features a potent and balanced offensive attack. Seniors Ava Laible (13 goals, nine assists), the HWS Tournament MVP, Olivia Reeder (nine goals, 13 assists), Katie Roberts (11 goals, nine assists) and junior Sara Roberts (15 goals, 11 assists), are all capable scorers.

Masters, a Louisville commit and North's all-time leading scorer, has a team-best 43 goals this season and logged her 100th and 101st career goals in the North Group 3 sectional final win against Randolph, while Anderson leads the team with 22 assists this season and owns the Lions' career mark with 72.

Both players, who had combined for 18 goals and six assists in the four previous postseason contests, were held without a goal or an assist in the same game for just the second time this season against defensive-juggernaut Moorestown. 

It was North's unheralded defense that cemented the state championship, including the steady goalie tandem of seniors Katherine Hall and McKenna Laman, who have split halves all season and combined for the team's fourth shutout in five postseason games, and its 10th overall.

"I think it's how we practiced and played all year long that [the defense is] just ready to go," Chrisman said. "They never seem distracted no matter which goalie is in there. They're ready to fly.

"Those two goalies, they bonded so well. They're so connected and they support each other so much."

Oak Knoll, which owns a 2-1 win over West Essex and has won six straight since a 5-1 loss to Eastern on Oct. 20, captured two of the previous three TOC titles and obviously presents a huge challenge for North. The Summit-based school features two 20-goal scorers in juniors Julia and Emma Ramsey, who have combined for 45 of the team's 111 goals and 31 assists. Junior Lea Good leads the team with 21 assists.

No matter what the rest of this week holds, North has undoubtedly left its mark and a winning legacy for future Lions to follow.

"They bought into just getting field hockey to be a better program here, but that goes back to our youth [program] being rebuilt," Chrisman said of his current club. 

"This is a culture change at North Hunterdon. This is a community change. Hopefully it's here to stay. I'm really proud of these seniors leading the way of what's to come."