Field hockey: P'burg 'pumped' to end title drought

The long wait for Phillipsburg's field hockey program is finally over, but the Stateliners are out to prove this won't a short stay at the top.

P'burg, which entered the postseason as a No. 9 seed, secured its first sectional title since 1999 with a 2-0 win over Middletown South on Tuesday afternoon in the North Group 4 final. The 'Liners (13-9) are set to play for their first state championship since '99 as they'll take on powerhouse Eastern -- a 9-3 winner over Kingsway in the South final -- at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the Group 4 title game at Bordentown Regional High School.

Joining P'burg, which received the customary firetruck escort and celebratory parade back into town, in Bordentown will be North Hunterdon, which won its first sectional title since 1993 with a 3-0 win over Randolph in the North Group 3 final. A third Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area team, Lenape Valley, fell short in a 3-0 loss to Shore Regional in the North Group 1 title game.

P'burg celebrates the program's fifth sectional title.

"We're just so happy to be here," said fifth-year coach Toni Popinko, who won two sectional titles as a player for Warren Hills in 2007 and '09. "[Playing in the Group 4 final] will be a good indication of where are program is going."

Eastern, which is one of the top teams in the nation and No. 1 in New Jersey, ended Phillipsburg's run for the Group 4 state championship in 1999, which started the Vikings' remarkable run of 21 straight titles (there was no state tournament in 2020 due to the pandemic). 

"It's an honor just to be on the field with them," said Popinko, whose final game for Warren Hills was a heartbreaking 2-1 loss in overtime to Ocean City in the Group 3 final at Toms River East. "People will be surprised by how we'll play. It's going to be a dogfight. This is not a fluke. We're going to be competing for awhile."

Phillipsburg, which lost to Shawnee in its only other state finals appearance in 1998, had to hit the road for the third time this postseason and for the 10th time in 14 games to bring home the trophy. Senior Lena Lopes, who logged a goal and an assist, opened the scoring against Middletown South (17-5), which was seeking its fifth sectional championship and second in three years, off a feed from junior forward Samantha Helman, her team-leading ninth of the season.

"[Lena] and her sister [Emilia] have really good chemistry," Popinko said of the two defenders. "They're very composed and play well off each other."

Senior midfielder Madison Darmstadt, a Stonehill College commit, capped the scoring with an assist by Lena Lopes and junior goalie Beth Kelly recorded the defense's eighth shutout.

P'burg, which has won four in a row and eight of its last 10 games, cleared a major hurdle to secure its first sectional finals berth since 2010, with a 4-3 win over Montclair in Friday's semifinal round -- the program's first victory against the Mounties since 2009. Montclair had previously ended the Stateliners' seasons with sectional wins in 2011, '16 and '19.

"We [as coaches] knew Montclair was going to be a tough game," Popinko said. "The girls didn't need to know that. We kept it low-key and under wraps so they could just go out and play. We told them [after the Middletown South game] that they'll be playing in the state final and they were so pumped."

Popinko, who became the head coach in 2017 after being on staff for several years as an assistant, said the biggest challenge for the program was building a winning culture (P'burg went 65-108-9 from 2011-19). That began with getting players to make an offseason commitment.  

"We had zero girls who played club and there's only so much you can do playing two months in a year," said Popinko, whose 2019 team won just four games. "We now have 16 playing in the offseason. They realized if you put the time in it pays off."

State finals schedule

Non-Public

Oak Knoll (20-3) vs. Camden Catholic (21-2), 10 a.m.

Group 2

West Essex (21-2) vs. Seneca (16-6-1), noon

Group 3

North Hunterdon (20-1) vs. Moorestown (13-6-1), 2 p.m.

Group 4

Phillipsburg (13-9) vs. Eastern (22-2), 4 p.m.

Group 1

Shore Regional (24-1) vs. Woodstown (19-3), 6 p.m.

Tournament of Champions

Monday

Play-in game 

TBD at higher seed

Wednesday, Nov. 17

Semifinals

TBD at higher seed

Friday, Nov. 19

Championship at Kean University

TBD