Hopewell Valley field hockey
By: John E. Powers
The last time the Hopewell Valley Central High School field hockey team played Allentown before their meeting this past Tuesday was in the Mercer County Tournament semifinals on Oct. 27 of last year. It was a memorable game, with the Lady Bulldogs rallying from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game and forcing overtime before losing 3-2 on Janine Rini’s goal.
But their latest meeting on the artificial turf at Mercer County Community College wasn’t very memorable for the Lady Bulldogs. In fact, it’s one coach Jami Taranto would rather forget.
The Redbirds improved to 11-0 with a 5-1 victory. Kris Volpe had the Lady Bulldog goal her seventh of the season with Sam Stout recording an assist. Melissa Grinkevich had her first career hat track, while Jordan Freese had two goals and two assists, as Allentown clinched at least a share of the Colonial Valley Conference Patriot Division title, its third consecutive crown. The Redbirds led 4-0 at halftime and extended the lead to 5-0 in the second half before Volpe scored with about nine minutes left in regulation.
Hopewell, which plays host to Lawrence on Thursday, then plays host to Hamilton on Friday in a Mercer County Tournament game. The Lady Bulldogs received the No. 5 seed, while Hamilton is the 12th seed.
The Lady Bulldogs will need to play better if they intend to make a run for a county title and get another crack at Allentown.
"I honestly feel that we came off the bus with our bodies, but without our sticks," said Hopewell Valley coach Jami Taranto. "There’s an aura about playing them, and I thought we were ready to play them, but we weren’t."

