By: Sean Moylan Sports Writer
Although Stephanie Partyka once again played the role of a hero to near-perfection, the New Egypt High School varsity field hockey team lost a 2-1 overtime decision to Glassboro in a NJSIAA Group I state tournament semifinal game played at Bishop Eustace Prep in Pennsauken on Friday.
Going into the contest both teams were ranked in the Top 20 in the state, with New Egypt posting a 17-1-3 mark while Glassboro had a 17-2-1 record. On paper it couldn’t have been a more evenly-matched semifinal game and it played out that way on the field.
“We had seven corners and they had five corners. We had five shots and they had seven shots,” said New Egypt’s highly-successful head varsity field hockey coach Patti Nicholson, who, while disappointed her players didn’t have a chance to play for another state title was nonetheless very proud of the extraordinary effort of all her players in Friday’s game. “I think it’s better to lose in overtime than in regulation. We played them even for 60 minutes. Sometimes you play very well and you don’t win.”
Late in the first and only overtime session, Glassboro’s top offensive player, Ashlee Willis, took advantage of a mismatch and scored the game-wining goal on a semi-breakaway. Earlier in the contest she had given her team a 1-0 advantage with a first-half tally. However, when one has Stephanie Partyka and Brandi Smith (17 goals) on one’s side in a big game, no lead is safe and certainly not a 1-0 advantage.
New Egypt’s theme for this season was “Heroes.” And the night before the Warriors’ big Group I Central Jersey Sectional championship game against Gloucester City, Partyka informed her head coach that she would be the hero of the next day’s contest. And Partyka fulfilled her prediction by rifling in a second-half goal off a corner in the Warriors’ 1-0 championship win over the Lions.
So last Friday when the Warriors were awarded a corner with just under 15 minutes left in regulation, Nicholson knew exactly what to do.
“I said ‘call The Hulk’,” remarked Nicholson, keeping with the heroes theme.
“The Hulk” is a play where sophomore midfielder Karly Ossowski inserts the ball to Lauren Siegelski, who, in turn, stops the ball, and then feeds it to Partyka at the top of the circle. Partyka had scored the winning goal on that heroic play in the Gloucester game and last Friday she, Ossowski and Siegelski joined forces once again to produce another beautiful explosive goal on “The Hulk” play.
“Nobody touched it,” said Nicholson of Partyka’s powerful, very Hulk-like, tally which knotted the contest at 1-1.
Partyka and her fellow defenders, especially Kaci Hopkins, all had big games as well as Ossowski and sophomore forward Kayla Soles. Moreover, Siegelski had one of her best games in a season of great games. And New Egypt’s junior goalie Katie Francis made a few good stops just to get the game into overtime. Furthermore, unlike most teams, New Egypt wasn’t fearing the prospect of playing a shootout.
“If Willis didn’t score we would have had to play another 10 minute overtime and then it would have gone to a shootout. I had my strokers ready,” said Nicholson, who has several very accurate and heavy hitters on her club.
After Friday’s game, Glassboro went on to lose 1-0 to a very good Oak Knoll team in the state championship game.
New Egypt, which was seeded number one in Central Jersey Group I, started its impressive playoff ride with a bye followed by a 6-1 win over Haddon Township and a 2-0 victory over Moorestown Friends, which put the Warriors in the Sectional finals.
“I think we had a fabulous season. I think this is probably the most balanced team (of mostly seniors and sophomores) we’ve ever had. We had our second best record ever (17-2-3). And we did some things we never did before. We beat Holy Cross and we beat Collingswood,” said Nicholson, who felt her players, with Partyka leading the charge, saved their best play for the playoffs as the Warriors won their fourth sectional title in their eight-year history. “She’s (Partyka) a special player. She is able to step up in big games and big spots. We had two corner plays in the overtime and I did not call ‘The Hulk.’” Nicholson didn’t call it because Glassboro had already seen it once and she still had other quality corner plays left in her team’s arsenal. Perhaps Glassboro would have overplayed Ossowski, Siegelski and Partkya and New Egypt wouldn’t have gotten off a shot on “The Hulk.”
But fans of New Egypt field hockey will always prefer to believe that “The Hulk” is unstoppable and that the incredibly talented Partyka would have smashed yet another puny goal cage had her corner play been called.

