Jess Carey, a senior, has scored in all but one game this season for a Bordentown team that is 10-1
by Jashvina Shah, Special Writer
BORDENTOWN — Bordentown was tied 2-2 with Kent Place in last year’s NJSIAA Field Hockey Tournament and time was expiring.
Jess Carey responded by scoring the game-winning goal for Bordentown, which went on to defeat Kent Place.
”We had a breakaway and my teammate passed it to me and I hit it into the goal so that was pretty memorable for me,” Carey said. “And of course the whole team contributed to it so that’s what made it pretty good.”
Carey, now a senior, has scored in all but one game this season for a Bordentown team that is 10-1. Carey, who has 80 career points and is on track to reach the century mark, is looking to play field hockey at a Division I school.
”I’ve been to a few schools and talked to coaches and now it’s just narrowing down which ones I really like,” Carey said.
She started her field hockey career with a clinic she attended in sixth grade. The clinic was coached by Bordentown head coach Julie Reisig.
Carey loved playing field hockey so much she stuck with the sport, and now plays under Reisig.
”My favorite thing is probably what you can do with the ball,” Carey said over the phone. “You can do so much, you have the ability to be creative with the ball, so you can do anything playing field hockey.”
Carey said her parents have been the most influential forces in her field hockey career. It was under her mother’s insistence that Carey started playing field hockey, as her mother also played.
”They always tell me just keep going no matter what,” Carey said. “My freshmen year I wanted to make varsity so bad and they would help me do anything, like practice with me outside.
”They just kept telling me, ‘Whatever you want, you can reach for and you can do it,’” she added.
Carey, who is one of the team’s co-captains, said she wants to teach her teammates the skills she knows along with the appreciation for the team’s bond.
”It’s really nothing like any other I’ve seen before,” Carey said. “Whenever we’re having a bad day, it’s really stuff on the field that turns it around. Everybody’s in such a great mood.
”It’s just a positive atmosphere no matter what. If we have a problem with each other it’s gone when we’re on the field. It’s just a bond that you can’t really explain because it’s just so strong, and most of us became friends because of field hockey,” she added. “I know I met the best of my friends from the team so I can’t really take that away from anybody.”