Justin Feil

By: centraljersey.com
Julie Reisig can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The Bordentown Regional High School field hockey coach has seen her team battle through a litany of injuries to crucial players to post a 3-4-1 record going into scheduled games against Pemberton on Tuesday and Holy Cross on Wednesday. The Scotties will host powerhouse New Egypt on Friday, then next week expect to return starting goalie Alicia Carthan and one of their top defenders, Kate Mallett, from injuries for the stretch run.
"By Monday, we should be at full strength," Reisig said. "We’ll be really improved. Our counterattack will be improved.
"I feel like we can win out from there. I think we can finish out with wins those two weeks. New Egypt is excellent and Holy Cross is excellent. Pemberton is a good team that plays a tough schedule. If we get through this week, we’re in good position to make states."
The Scotties got in last year to fill out the brackets, but this time want to qualify automatically with an above .500 record. They’ll have a much better chance of it at full strength.
Carthan, who is in her first year starting in goal, was lost to a sprained neck and concussion in a loss to Moorestown. Mallett went down in a loss to New Egypt. Mallett and Katelyn Gore were the key to the Scotties’ two-back defensive system that allowed them to push forward with confidence in the senior defenders.
"We had to change out of a two-back system," Reisig said. "We just now adjusted to it. We’ve been trying to gel with the changes and we’re coming together with the changes."
Center midfielder Soozin Kang, one of the top five elite players in the whole area, had to move back to defense.
"I’m using three backs now," Reisig said. "It changes a lot for our offense."
Things started to look better for BRHS in their first win since the major injuries, a 3-1 defeat of Delran behind goals from Emily Meszaros, Lindsey Treptow and Amber Warshany. Melanie Hazlett had three assists.
"It was truly our best team effort game," said Reisig, whose team needed overtime to defeat Delran in the first game of the year. "The girls really kept to the strategies we’re trying to stick to. Our attack was working. We scored for the first time on two penalty corners. And with two different players."
Those two players – Treptow and Warshany – are neighbors of Reisig. They learned to play the game in her backyard, and with their goals, they helped Reisig earn her 100th career win as a coach.
"It gives me a lot of inspiration," Reisig said. "A lot of those wins were at the last second or off a penalty corner. All those things, I remember. You never want to be in a situation where you think you can’t win. We’ve beaten an undefeated team late in the year, and we’ve beat the No. 1 seed in groups.
"It’s just like reassurance to me. All those wins had a story. Each win makes me think what I can put together with this team. I have some fast kids with good stick skills. I just had to find where to put them."
While Reisig celebrated hitting the century mark in wins, it was the first career win for Suzy Mansour. The freshman goalie, the only other goalie in Bordentown’s program, allowed only a second-half tally while filling in for Carthan.
"She’s had a lot of saves," Reisig said. "She’s done as well as anyone could in that position."
At full strength, the Scotties have proven impressive, even with a team that returned just seven players from last year’s varsity.
"To have tied Rancocas Valley (0-0) is huge for us," Reisig said. "We also beat Allentown, who is extremely strong in the other conference, in a scrimmage. And it was only 1-0 at the half against New Egypt."
So far, the only teams to shut down the Scotties’ attack have been Rancocas Valley in a tie, and Moorestown and New Egypt right as BRHS was reeling from crucial injuries.
"We have a very prolific attack when we’re working together and we can get the ball upfield," Reisig said. "Unfortunately they haven’t had enough touches on the ball when we’ve been injured. But we have the chance to break a scoring record."
Seven different players have scored goals for the Scotties. Jessica Lucas is leading team with five goals in her first year of varsity. Melanie Hazlett, a returning junior, has four goals and six assists. Treptow has three goals and four assists.
"When we’re clicking on all cylinders, we’ll get some more goals," Reisig said. "Even without our goalie and back, I think we’re ready to play in this new lineup."
The lineup will get some stiff challenges this week from a pair of teams that the Scotties have already lost to with Holy Cross and New Egypt. Reisig, though, is confident that those are the sorts of games that are going to help make her Bordentown field hockey team all the more dangerous over the final weeks of the season.
"It’s nice to be undefeated, but you learn from losses," she said. "If you can learn from those losses, it’ll make you stronger for the rest of the season.
"We’ve had the teaching movements," she added. "We’re trying to build off them going forward."