Young team growing quickly
By Zoe Crain, Special Writer
According to Robbinsville High School head field hockey coach Naoma Cordi, this season only factors in to a larger plan for her young team.
The Ravens, who are now 3-1, have a varsity roster comprised of an equal number of seniors and sophomores. Though six seniors may sound like a healthy amount of experience, having an equal number of underclassmen is unusual for a team who made it all the way to the Mercer County finals last season.
Cordi said she is more concerned with long-term development and improvement for the program.
”There’s not necessarily teams that we want to beat, we just want to continue to build our tradition and maintain the level of play that we’ve had so far this season,” Cordi said. “Then, we’ll just go from there.”
The team’s level of play does seem to be on the right track. The Ravens easily won their first game, against West Windsor-Plainsboro South, by a score of 7-2. Jess Wortelmann scored a hat trick, with Nicole Gerdes picking up two goals. Lauren Hunter and Megal Roeloffs each scored one.
Their second game, against New Egypt, caused some problems for Robbinsville. Despite two goals from Hunter and another goal from Wortelmann, the team was unable to defeat the senior-stacked squad, and fell 6-3. The game is on the schedule for a specific reason.
”With New Egypt, we definitely put them on our schedule because we wanted to play a team of their caliber,” Cordi said. “Going into that game, we knew what their team was like.”
Robbinsville was able to pick up the momentum again in their third game, against Steinart. Wortelmann and Gerdes each scored two goals, with another contributed by Julie Challendar in a 5-0 win.
Their most recent game, against Notre Dame, also put another ‘W’ in the scorebook. The Ravens were able to pull ahead quickly and shut out Notre Dame, 2-0.
At this point in the season, Cordi is more than satisfied with the team’s progress.
”We have a really young team,” she said. “So, having a 3-1 record at the beginning of the season is a really good way to start. We’ve played some really great teams.”
In spite of their youth, all the ages on the team work well together.
”One of the big strengths of our team is definitely how close they are on and off the field,” Cordi said. “They’re really like a family. They’re very supportive and they’re there for each other, but they also know how to push one another and give constructive criticism. The leadership on this team is amazing.”
The leadership does not come only from seniors. Hunter, a junior who starts at center mid, brings unique leadership and knowledge to the squad. Hunter balances playing for her school squad with Junior Olympics field hockey, as well as the elite Jersey Intensity tournament team.
”Because of her [Jersey Intensity events], she’s in so many tournaments all year round and has so much knowledge,” Cordi said. “She is incredibly helpful. She’ll stay after practice and help the younger girls perfect their swing, or she’ll take them to the side if they’re having trouble. Her knowledge of the game is amazing and brings so much to the team.”
Hunter and her fellow leaders have high expectations to live up to. Cordi expects her team leaders to “be the coaches on the field and do things that younger girls should live up to.”
Off the field, the leaders are required to “be supportive, know what’s expected, and carry on the tradition [started] here at Robbinsville.”
These clearly stated expectations stem from Cordi’s experience as a field hockey coach. She’s been coaching in the CVC for seven years, and was the head coach at Ewing High School, prior to her start in 2007 at Robbinsville.
The graduation of this year’s seniors also marks a special milestone for Cordi.
”The seniors now were freshmen when I started coaching,” she said. “So it’s really great to see how the seniors went through the four years with us, and how much love they have for the school and the team.”
With the graduation of the Class of 2011, Cordi expects the team to become stronger as the younger girls grow up.
”Every year we graduate a big class, so I feel like we’re young every year because we’ve had so many large graduating classes,” Cordi said. “We really expect the girls who are newcomers to fill in the spots. But, that also means that our returners and seniors need to take the responsibility of making sure [the newcomers] feel like they’re a part of the team from Day One. Then everyone is contributing, and the team gets what it needs.”

