By: Sean Richards
It only figures the Monroe Township High School field hockey team would see its season come to an end Monday in an excruciating, 2-1 shootout loss to South Plainfield in the semifinals of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament.
While more often than not the Falcons came up on the wrong end of the scoreboard this season, they came as close as can be in most of their losses and competitively battled right down to the end against favored competition.
The sixth seed heading into the GMCT, Monroe had reached the semifinals by impressively stunning third-seeded East Brunswick, 2-1, in overtime on Friday.
This was an outstanding effort by Monroe against an East Brunswick team that had twice beaten the Falcons by a combined score of 6-0 during the regular season.
Scoring the Monroe goals in this quarterfinal round game were sophomores Margaret Nawracaj and Saahithi Karuturi. Meghan Stark and Karuturi picked up the assists as Monroe piled up a 7-2 advantage in shots to make things relatively easy for senior goalie Shannon Weber (one save).
Coupled with a 1-0 victory over Sayreville earlier in the week in Which Stark scored her fourth goal of the season, this gave Monroe all kinds of momentum and confidence heading into Monday’s game against South Plainfield. Unfortunately, the word was now out on how much the youthful Falcons had improved and South Plainfield was ready with its "A" game.
Still, there was nothing to choose between the two teams through regulation and two overtime periods, and Monroe took the lead in the shootout when senior Rua Zhang scored on a penalty stroke in the second round to hand the Falcons (4-10-4) a 1-0 lead.
Things looked even better when South Plainfield failed to convert in the third and fourth rounds, leaving the Tigers’ Susan Mott in a do-or-die situation. She came up huge with a goal and so it was onto the sixth round. Weber made a save on Mott to start the sixth round, but Monroe was then turned away by South Plainfield goal Diana Naser. After the teams switched order, Naser made a save on Stark and Julianne Bosse fired a perfect low shot to beat Weber and finally end Monroe’s upset bid.
"The girls have absolutely nothing to hang their heads about," said Monroe coach Virginia Gonzalez. "It’s very frustrating when you lose on a shootout, but the girls played really well and it was a great game to watch. I’m proud of them.
"The defense played great. South Plainfield is a very strong team, but our backs kept them away from our goal.’
Anchoring the Monroe defense were backs Katie Lepri, Karuturi and Nicole Manziano. All three are sophomores for a Monroe team that had just four seniors.
"Our three backs had phenomenal games," said Gonzalez. "It was a memorable way to finish up the season. The team did a great job. We can build on this for next season."
A season that will begin with Monroe knowing it can compete against the elite teams in the county.
Or maybe, it might just be inching its way into that same category.

