By John E. Powers, Sports Writer
It was just about a month to the day — Sept. 25 to be precise in Bernardsville — when Bernards blanked the South Hunterdon Regional High School field hockey team 5-0.
The Eagles’ leaders, like senior Brittney Shurts and junior Kayla Ribsam and their teammates, didn’t need reminding when the two teams met again at South Hunterdon last Thursday afternoon.
”We were so motivated,” said Shurts, who shares the team lead in goals at 13 with Ribsam. “We figured they were a turf team, and we were used to grass. It was silly things that got us so pumped. That was basically it. That (Bernards) was the game we were all looking forward to because we had gotten beat so bad.”
Things looked easy early on as Ribsam scored unassisted at 27:56 of the first half, and freshman Becca Hendricks followed with another at 17:49. Bernards tied the game on second-half unassisted goals by Grace Cristus at 13:21 and Clayton Cristus at 9:59.
But Shurts ended it all at 5:09 of the second overtime for the 3-2 win, knocking Bernards (12-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten. South Hunterdon improved to 10-6-1. Junior keeper Leslie Salsbury made 17 saves.
Freshman Kelly Albanir beat a couple of Bernards players to the ball and worked her way up field.
”Kelly Albanir has awesome speed, and she carried the ball all the way up field,” Shurts said. ““She made an awesome pass, and I was in the right place at the right time and knocked it in.”
”It was wonderful; amazing,” head coach Andrea Gurba said.
Shurts also praised senior defender Angelique Platas.
”Nobody could get past her,” Shurts said.
Gurba called the game “the most intense” she’d ever coached in.
”My girls played hard from the minute the first half began,” she said. “We talked, worked the ball up field with one another and never stopped the pressure on goal. It was awesome and well deserved.”
Shurts said the team felt a difference in the first few minutes of the game.
”I just think we went into the game with a good state of mind,” she said. “We were really determined. At first, we thought they had a loss, and that drove us to think we could beat them. Then we got into it. We realized we completely dominated, and when we scored within the first five minutes, we knew we could do it.”
South Hunterdon beast Somerville 4-3 last Tuesday as Ribsam scored at 7:16 of overtime to win it. She also scored earlier in the game along with Shurts and senior Stephanie Davis. Salsbury made seven saves.
South was scheduled to play Tuesday night at Hackettstown before wrapping up the regular season with a Thursday afternoon game at home against North Warren when the team will celebrate senior day.
The Eagles then will prepare for the state tournament.
Ribsam, who plays for the Spirit Eagles team that trains at the Hun School, said she has been invited to play in a national showcase over the Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend in Palms Spring, Calif.

