East Brunswick’s field hockey team finished the season with an 11-5-1 record, a marked improvement over the 9-9-1 mark the year before. Imagine what the Bears might have achieved if they could have avoided the injuries that afflicted the team.
The rash of players who went down with a variety of ailments was so severe, second-year coach Megan Deroba joked that “we started an injury of the week” club.
“I was talking to our former head coach Cindi Todoroff, who is coordinating the middle school program now,” said Deroba, “and she told me she never recalled as many injuries in her 27 years as a coach as we had this year. Field hockey is not as physical as some of the other sports, and you may get one injury a year that forces a player to miss games. The fact we managed to improve on last year’s record with this adversity is gratifying and something we can build on for next season.”
Actually, the turning point in the season that convinced Deroba that her team was headed in the right direction came during an early loss to Monroe, undefeated at the time, and beating teams by wide margins.
“We went to their place and played Monroe tough,” said Deroba. “We lost 1-0, but considering how they were beating teams, it made us feel better about ourselves. We played with a lot more confidence after that.”
The leading scorer this year was Jamie Hatala, who missed the first portion of the season with a concussion. Still, when the senior returned, she became a major contributor with nine goals and three assists.
The next major injury came when midfielder Karlee Owsiak, a senior, suffered a severe bruise to her knee that caused her to miss most of October’s games. That was followed by forward Kristin Trimbola’s broken leg, which shelved the senior for the remainder of the campaign. Sierra Rauchbach, a junior, was effective at cornerback, but due to a broken hand, she had to play with her hand in a cast. Forward Elyssa Gotkin, a junior, one of the top players helping to transition from defense to offense, went down in midseason with shin splints that eventually led to stress fractures.
Still, the injury list continued to mount. Goaltender Sara Samuels, a senior and captain, was sidelined for a portion of the season with mononucleosis, and center midfielder Nicolle Pfeil, senior, injured her back.
“When these injuries occurred,” said Deroba, “we needed to bring in players we hadn’t planned on using. One in particular was Jess Ferdinand, a sophomore who came up from the junior varsity and played so well she became a regular.
Others who saw playing time as a result of filling in for injured players included Kaitlyn Loessler, a junior forward, Jackie O’Conner, a sophomore who played goaltender, and Sara Parker, a senior co-captain.
“The benefit to using a lot of players,” said Deroba, “is that we’re better prepared as we move ahead with the program. We’re a step further along in the development of some players, and that’s going to help us next year.”