Northern Burlington County Regional High School girls’ varsity field hockey player deserves recognition
By: Sean Moylan
Alyssa Pigott, Danielle Terracciano, Alayna Morris and Justine Titko all scored more goals than she did. And Jamie Harris was a better one-on-one defender. Yet no one player contributed more to the Northern Burlington County Regional High School girls’ varsity field hockey team having a great 12-5-2 season than senior center mid Chelsea Stevenson.
Stevenson routinely won NBC head coach Joanne Hensch’s Hustle Award, which was given out after each of the Greyhounds’ games. NBC’s former head coach Chris Haines played Stevenson, a speedster, at right wing during her freshman and sophomore seasons and she had productive years at that position. However, when Hensch became the team’s coach she noticed Stevenson’s fantastic defensive skills and consequently she moved her to center mid, the position Stevenson was born to play.
"I play too far back. If I was an offensive player I’d still go back to play defense," said Stevenson, who compiled four goals and seven assists this season. "I actually had a lot of assists on free hits into the circle."
NBC actually had a lead in its playoff game versus Moorestown, but when Stevenson suffered an injury and had to battle the beginning stages of dehydration at the same time, the Greyhounds’ lead began to slip away.
"I thought we’d at least go into overtime against them (the Quakers)," said Stevenson, whose team held many one-goal leads against good teams this year. "But that was a bad day. The day before I got hit in the knee cap and I got hit in the same spot in the Moorestown game. It was also hot that day. I just chugged water the whole game."
One loss however could not take away from a sensational season. In fact, Stevenson is a member of a special team within the team called the Yellowjackets.
"Coach Hensch named the four mids the Yellowjackets because of the way we swarm to the ball," said Stevenson, who loved playing for Hensch. "She can have fun and still work us hard."
All of the Greyhounds love playing a game Hensch came up with called World Cup. The Greyhounds, especially the seniors, had a special bond which made them a special team this season.
"We all played together since middle school. We’ve known each other for so long," said Stevenson, who knew the team would be good this year despite last year’s 6-10-4 season. Yet to complete the puzzle, Stevenson and her friends recruited two of their teammates from the NBC lacrosse team (Pigott and Morris) to join the field hockey squad. Stevenson, herself, knew they would have the goods to become great field hockey players despite their relative inexperience.
"What you need to be a good field hockey player is to be athletic and want to get the ball," said Stevenson, who is also a sensational lacrosse player. Stevenson is so close to Jamie Harris that their families have gone on winter skiing trips together for years. A bright young lady with a 97 average, Stevenson is currently looking at the University of Virginia and Ursinus as her top college choices. Wherever she decides to go she’ll try out for the school’s field hockey team. This year she was acknowledged as a Second Team All-South Jersey All-Star. She was also a First Team Liberty Division All-Star. And last week she played in the North-South Senior All-Star Showcase at Eastern, where she agreed to play out of position when nobody else would.
"It was so much fun (playing field hockey again)," added Stevenson, who says she misses playing field hockey with her NBC teammates already.