By Sean Richards, Sports Writer
Coming off its first Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship, the Monroe Township High School field hockey team was hoping it could also make an unprecedented run in the state tournament.
It didn’t happen, as a Falcon unbeaten streak that dated back to mid-September ended in a 2-1 loss to Freehold Township Monday afternoon in the North 2 Group II quarterfinals.
Disappointing, yes. Crushing, no, because there wasn’t any result at this point that could tarnish one of the most amazing stories in the history of Monroe athletics.
With the loss, Monroe ended the season with a glittering record of 14-2-2. And with all but one player returning next year, no sooner had the Freehold Township game ended than anticipation was already running high for next year.
’I think there was a lot of pressure on the team," said Monroe’s Virginia Gonzalez, who should be a slam dunk for GMC Coach of the Year. "It was our first time in states and we were just coming off winning the (GMCT) championship.
"I don’t think we played a bad game, but we weren’t at our best either. It was tough to watch a team that had played so awesome play a bit disheveled."
After Freehold Township took the early lead, Monroe’s Nicole Manziano showed why she was the leading scorer in Middlesex County by tying the game midway through the first half. The goal was assisted by Justina Kupczak and Saahithi Karuturi, who had scored the lone goal in Monroe’s thrilling GMC title victory last week.
Freehold Township, however, then took the lead for good when Meghan Gibson scored her 22nd goal of the season off a deflection right before the half.
With its season on the line, Monroe turned up the pressure in the second half, but just couldn’t quite get the equalizer. This was unusual for a team that had specialized in clutch goals all year long.
"We had our chances," said Gonzalez. "We must have had 10 shots that were just a few inches wide. That’s the way it goes sometimes. Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose."
Until this year, of course, it was Monroe that had done most of the losing. It all ended in a season that will be recapped in these pages next week and will be long remembered.
"We had an awesome year," agreed Gonzalez. "We only lost two games. I remember years when we only won two games. We basically have the whole team back next year. I think next year will be really exciting."
It will be tough to top what happened this year and it will be certainly different as Monroe will go from the role of upstart to favorite. Still, you get the feeling the fun has just begun for this rising program.
