By: Sean Moylan
It would have been a good week anyway for the Hightstown High field hockey team because Jessica Haughton broke Wendy Greczyn’s 32-year old single season record for goals when she scored for the Rams’ in Monday’s 1-0 home win over Lawrence in the opener of the Mercer County Tournament. Moreover, the Rams (seeded 5th) were happy to learn that they would be hosting a Central Jersey Group III playoff game versus Northern Burlington (seeded 5th) next Monday.
But the week went from good to great when Hightstown traveled to West Windsor-Plainsboro North on Tuesday afternoon and won a 1-0 game to advance to yesterday’s (Thursday) MCT semifinal game versus Allentown (seeded 3rd) at Mercer County Community College.
With 64 seconds to go in regulation, Monika Mackow scored one of the biggest goals of her career to lift Hightstown to victory with an assist by Haughton.
"It looked like Jessica Haughton just pushed the ball between one of their girls’ legs (to get the ball to MacKow)," added Hightstown Coach Julie Reisig Howarth. Kelly Stout also helped out on the goal.
While some people called the win shocking. it really wasn’t. Hightstown came very close to beating West Windsor-Plainsboro North when the two teams matched up very early in the season.
"When we lost to West Windsor-Plainsboro North on the turf (at Mercer County), we had to play without Kristin Waller and Ellen Trast (two of the team’s better players)," noted Reisig Howarth. "But they are a very good team."
Heidi Nicklaus made 16 saves to earn her second shutout in a row. The shots on goal were fairly even with West Windsor-Plainsboro North, holding a slight 23-20 edge over Hightstown.
Reisig Howarth was very happy to see Haughton, who will play in the Jim Davis Classic All-Star game on December 2nd, finally break Hightstown’s single season scoring record in Monday’s game versus Lawrence. But her second tally was hardly a cosmetic one, because the Rams probably would not have advanced without it. Of course, it also helped that Nicklaus stood on her head and made 15 saves in goal. Hightstown had eight shots on goal versus Lawrence.
Haughton may have broken the record sooner, but last Thursday’s scheduled home game versus West Windsor-Plainsboro South was postponed twice. However, the Hightstown (10-4-1) will try to reschedule that contest if it can. Meanwhile Hightstown’s playoff game versus NBC should be a good one, both sides have played tough schedules.
PEDDIE
The Peddie field hockey team has come a long way since winning just two games last season.
In fact, Peddie (seeded 5th) defeated the Morristown Beard School (11th) 2-0 in Wednesday’s playoff quarterfinals to advance to a semifinal road game versus Blair (seeded 3rd) today (Friday).
At the end of the first half, Liz Knopf scored the game-winner for Peddie.
"It was kind of on a scrum in front of the cage and she put it on goal," said first-year-Peddie Coach Allison Treese of Knopf’s goal. Then midway through the second half, Diana Hunt put the home playoff game on ice with the Falcons’ second goal. If anything, Peddie should have scored more as it dominated the contest from start to finish.
"We had a bunch of very nice shots," said Treese, whose club took 21 shots on goal. "It was a good game. We played well defensively and very well in the midfield."
Peddie goalie Carolyn Horner only had to make a pair of saves to earn the shutout. Meanwhile Cailyn Hennessy had a very strong game for the Falcons in the field.
This past Saturday in regular season action, Peddie played the Hun School to a 0-0 tie at Princeton.
"Again, we had our opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of them. But it was an evenly matched game," said Treese. While Hun had a 13-5 edge in shots on goal, the Falcons took a few shots that just missed going in the cage. Horner got the job done for Peddie with 13 saves.
"She (Horner) played incredibly well," added Treese.
Because of what they went through last season, the Falcons appreciate this season all that much more.
"We have the same kids as last year so we’re very happy with how we’ve been playing," said Treese, who was an assistant last season.
This past Tuesday’s scheduled home game versus Nottingham was cancelled. Peddie (7-5-3) is scheduled to host Mercersburg Academy on Saturday and it is scheduled at Bordentown on Wednesday. But today’s game versus Blair is the big one.

