By John E. Powers, Sports Writer
It was a season of vindication for the South Hunterdon Regional High School field hockey team.
The Eagles bounced back from a sub par 2007 by finishing with a 12-7-1 record, making the NJSIAA North 2, Group I tournament, something they missed last year.
Through the season, the team avenged early season losses to Somerville, Mount St. Mary, Delaware Valley, Bernards and North Warren along the way, beating Hackettstown in overtime.
The Eagles lost to Delaware Valley 2-1 Oct. 10 in a regular season game, then beat them 3-1 in a Hunterdon-Warren Tournament game the next day. The team tied Belvidere early in the season, but beat the County Seaters the second time.
With a good group of young players coming up, players like freshman midfielder Kelly Albanir, the Eagles seem to be in good shape for the future.
The team showed a knack of winning in extra time. Their last two wins of the season — against North Warren and Hackettstown — came in overtime.
”We had a real good season. We might have even flipped the record we had last year,” said senior middie Brittany Shurts, who had 14 goals, second on the team to junior forward Kayla Ribsam’s 15.
”We were mentally prepared in every game,” she said. “When we lost the first couple of times, we didn’t want to lose again.”
Shurts said the turning point of the season came when the team knocked off previously unbeaten Bernards in overtime, 3-2, after losing to the Mountaineers early in the season.
Shurts scored at 5:09 of the second overtime for the game winner after Ribsam and freshman middie Becca Hendricks scored in regular time.
Freshman backliner Grace Dienes was reliable in front of strong junior goalie Leslie Salsbury. Sophomore middie Emily Marley had two goals in a 7-0 whipping of Morrisville.
Sophomore forward Sarah Phillips, freshman back Emily Siegel and freshman forward Melissa Aversa scored in a 10-2 rout of North Plainfield as freshman goalie Andrea Wisnewski made five saves.
”Kelly Albanir, Becca Hendricks; they always seemed to be in the right place a lot of the time,” Shurts said. “We had a lot of new people, but once we got the feel of it, we worked out the kinks. We became more focused. We had the heart to win.”
She added, “Kelly Albanir did a great job. If she got beat, she hustled so fast back to the other side of the field to recover. She was so fun to watch.”
Senior forward and captain Stephanie Davis had a game-winning goal in overtime to beat North Warren 1-0 on Senior Day.
Senior captain and sweeper Angelique Platas made strong defensive plays throughout the year and senior middie/back Brittany Ennis had six goals.
Salsbury had another formidable season. She was backed up by freshman Andrea Wisnewski.
”I don’t know much about being a goalie,” Shurts said. “But from what I saw, Leslie didn’t let many balls get behind her. She had such a good season this year. She knows how to read plays.”
Shurts said the turnaround between this year and last was simple.
”This year we kept at it,” she said. “We played as a team. It wasn’t just one person. We all played together.”

