By: John Chester Sports Writer
In three seasons, The Peddie School’s varsity field hockey team has made a journey from the depths to the heights of its first state championship since 1987.
On Sunday, Nov. 2, Peddie defeated The Lawrenceville School, 1-0, in dramatic fashion in the championship game of the New Jersey Independent Schools Athletic Association Class A Tournament.
The win upped Peddie’s record to 13-3-2 and was its fifth in a row. The loss dropped Lawrenceville’s record to 11-2-2, was its first since the opening game of the regular season and snapped a 13-game unbeaten streak (11 wins and two ties).
Adding to the significance of the win was that fact that Peddie ended Lawrenceville’s string of NJISAA Class A championships at five.
Peddie advanced to the championship game by taking a semifinal, 1-0, from visiting Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, 1-0. Jackson had the only goal in that game as well, scoring with 27 minutes, 43 seconds gone in the first half.
Meanwhile, Lawrenceville had more breathing room in its semifina; a 2-0 win at home over The Hun School. Both semifinals were played on Wednesday, October 29.
Lawrenceville hosted the championship game on its artificial turf field because it was seeded first in the tournament. Peddie was seeded second. Nekole Jackson scored the game’s lone goal for Peddie with 14.4 seconds remaining in the second half.
Taylor Pennell was credited with the assist. She sent a short pass to Jackson, the team’s leading scorer this season. And the junior scored from close range to give Peddie its first NJISAA Class A championship in 21 years.
With time in the second half nearly exhausted, the sequence that led to the goal began with Peddie earning a penalty corner.
Maddie Rich took the corner. After Lawrenceville cleared the ball, Jill Skipper sent it back into the circle and the mass confusion of a scrum. Shortly thereafter, the ball found its way to Pennell, who, in turn, passed it to Jackson.
After the goal, all that remained was for the 14.4 seconds to tick off the clock before Peddie began its celebration.
“There was no post-game speech to the players,” said Peddie head coach Allison Treese. Peddie got off to a fast start in the game.
“We dominated the first 10 to 15 minutes (of the first half),” said Treese. “After that, it was pretty even, back and forth.”
The difference was that one Peddie shot made it into Lawrenceville’s goal while Peddie goaltender Carolyn Horner stopped all seven shots on goal by Lawrenceville.
“Carolyn had some unbelievable saves. Some of the shots were from point-blank range,” said Treese.
Two great saves occurred with approximately five minutes remaining in the second half. Horner stopped the initial shot, but could not control the ball. She then made a save on the rebound.
Jackson and Horner were obvious heroes for Peddie. Treese also praised the play of forwards Pennell and MaryRose Croddick-Molyneaux and defenders Rich, Kate Johnson and Gabby Horner, who is Carolyn’s sister.
When Treese and Sarah Somers took over as head coach and assistant coach before the 2006 season, their focus was on rebuilding the team. For Peddie, 2005 had been a losing season with double-digit losses.
; In 2006, Peddie rebounded with a winning season, finishing 9-7-3. From that team, 11 seniors, including six seniors, were lost to graduation.
As a result, Peddie was a young team in 2007. But youth didn’t stop the Falcons from improving again ; to 11-6-1.
Thus, Peddie headed into this season with high hopes of having another winning season with double-digit wins, since the loss to graduation had been light — four seniors, including three starters.
“Our players who were young in 2007 were a year older and stronger. And they had the experience of playing together for a season,” said Treese.
In 2008, Peddie achieved a winning season with double-digit wins. But this season arguably will be best remembered for the state championship that ended the 21-year drought. For Treese, the state championship was her second as a head coach at Peddie and, obviously, her first in field hockey. She also coached Peddie to the NJISAA Class A championship in girls’ lacrosse in 2003.
As far as the field hockey state championship is concerned, Treese enjoyed the moment; the win over Lawrenceville – as well as the journey from 2006 to the present.
“This is really special,” said Treese. “Sarah and I came in together (to coach the team) three years ago. We’ve seen the kids develop. They are playing the way we want them to play. It’s great to see all of the work come to fruition.”
For Treese and Somers, this was their first win over Lawrenceville in six games. The first four meetings were shutout losses; 5-0 at Peddie in the 2006 regular-season game, 2-0 at Lawrenceville in a 2006 NJISAA Class A semifinal, 3-0 at Lawrenceville in the 2007 regular-season game and 4-0 at Lawrenceville in a 2007 NJISAA Class A semifinal.
Peddie served notice that the gap was closing by earning a 1-1 tie with Lawrenceville in the 2008 regular-season game, which was played on Saturday, October 11, at Peddie.
NOTES: Peddie was back in action November 5. The Falcons’ five-game winning streak was stopped by host Germantown Academy, 5-1.
Pennell scored the lone goal for Peddie, which evened the score, 1-1, with approximately three minutes gone in the second half. Croddick-Molyneaux had the assist on the goal. Germantown then exploded on offense, scoring the game’s final four goals to improve its record to 16-4.
Peddie completed its season with a 3-0 win over Blair this past Saturday.
