Raiders make states, but out of counties

Field hockey tradition continues

By: Rudy Brandl
   The Hillsborough High field hockey team has been on a roller-coaster ride all season. Last week was no exception for the Raiders, who qualified for one tournament but were eliminated from another in a topsy-turvy week that left the team with an 8-8 record.
   Hillsborough was set to finish the regular season with winnable games vs. Montgomery and Franklin this week. Those two contests would have marked the absolute end of the 2006 campaign had the Raiders not fought their way to the state playoffs.
   Thanks to a recent three-game win streak that included a 2-0 triumph over Freehold Township on the state tournament qualifying deadline Oct. 18, the Raiders will be competing in the state playoffs for the eighth consecutive year. HHS earned the No. 6 seed in the North 2, Group 4 section and will play at No. 3 Hunterdon Central next Monday.
   Pingry (14-0) ended Hillsborough’s dream of advancing to the Somerset County Tournament final in last Saturday’s semifinals. The defending champion Big Blue showed why they’re ranked fifth in the state with a dominant 6-0 victory at Montgomery’s Cougar Stadium.
   "They’re great," HHS head coach Peach Draper said afterward. "They have a little bit of everything. They came out and executed very well. They got tons of shots and they took it to us."
   Pingry scored in the first minute of the game and kept piling on the shots to finish with a whopping 33-3 edge in that department. Hillsborough senior goalkeeper Ellyn Griggs played one of her finest games with 27 saves to keep her team close for a while, but Pingry tallied in the final minute of the first half to take a 3-0 lead.
   "The girls were excited to make it to the semifinals, but they were a little nervous," Draper said. "We knew Pingry was going to be tough."
   Hillsborough needed to make the SCT semis to qualify for the state playoffs. The team’s thrilling 2-1 overtime victory at Mount St. Mary’s Academy in the county quarterfinals kept alive its chances to make the states.
   However, the HHS girls still needed another victory before the deadline to gain entry. After the Oct. 17 game in Freehold was wiped out by heavy rain, the contest was moved to Hillsborough’s stadium turf field the following day. The Raiders prevailed by a 2-0 score.
   "The rain helped us because we had a huge advantage playing on our turf," Draper said. "We had confidence. We knew it was do-or-die."
   Senior wing Gillian Cardinale, who netted the game-winner at Mount St. Mary’s, scored both goals in the victory. Tori Wilson and Katherine Glass-Hardenberg notched the assists and Griggs made two saves for the shutout.
   The Raiders, who earlier this season won four straight games, made it three straight within a six-day span with a 3-1 victory over Watchung Thursday. Although the HHS girls were eliminated from the county tournament two days later, they still have another big game to play in the final week of October.
   Draper’s teams have always qualified for the state playoffs during all her years as either an assistant or head coach at Hillsborough.
   "Making the states is our tradition," Draper said.