By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Paula Tessein knew that she had a motivated team to begin the field hockey state tournament.
Her fourth-seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro High North squad has a lot of experience and they have a lot of seniors, a combination that bodes well.
”We have 10 seniors,” said the Knights head coach. “This group has been playing together — seniors at least — have been playing together since seventh grade. They don’t want to see it end.”
The Knights kept the pressure on fifth-seeded South Brunswick and finally broke through for a 1-0 overtime win Friday in the quarterfinals of the North Jersey Section 2, Group 4 tournament.
”It was a nail-biter through the whole 60 minutes,” said Tessein after improving to 11-8-1. “We had so many opportunities. I think we had 12 corners in regular time. When we got that one corner in overtime that got it in, it was a sigh of relief.”
Leigh Calotta sent the corner to Kylie Mulhall, whose shot was on goal and tipped in by Alexis Duplak just 52 seconds into overtime for the game-winner.
”I was hoping all the practice in the regular time would pay off,” Tessein said. “We’ve had a few overtimes through the season. We’ve practiced it. We practiced it even last week knowing it’s a possibility going into the state tournament. We know the likelihood is greater because the teams are more evenly matched.”
The Knights are underdogs at top-seeded Bridgewater Raritan today. Bridgewater was a 10-1 winner over eighth-seeded Montgomery in another quarterfinal despite 17 saves from Katie Moyle. Bella Van Mol scored and Alex Millett had the assist for the Cougars, who finished their year 7-12. They had made three straight sectional finals.
”It’s exciting,” Tessein said. “We’ve been to Bridgewater years ago and played them. They’re an excellent and well skilled machine. We’re looking forward to the challenge. We faced those kinds of teams in the regular season. That’s why we play teams like Moorestown and Bordentown to give us that sort of experience. We’re looking forward to it.”
In the Central Jersey Group 4 quarterfinals, 10th-seeded West Windsor-Plainboro South lost to second-seeded Freehold Township, 6-1 despite Gargi Sapre making 20 saves. Dana Salerno scored off an assist from Katie Giminaro. The Pirates finished the year 4-13-3. They had advanced to the quarterfinals on penalty strokes against Brick Memorial.
In North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3, third-seeded Princeton High School moved into the semifinals with a 4-2 win over sixth-seeded Middletown South. Trish Reilly, Julia DiTosto, Campbell McDonald and Avery Peterson each had goals. McDonald and Reilly added assists along with Lucy Herring. Margaret Welch stopped five shots for the Little Tigers, who will play at second-seeded Warren Hills today.
WW-P North is hoping it can defeat the top seed in its sectional. The Knights used a strong passing game and an aggressive defense that pushed forward to sustain control and create scoring chances against South Brunswick.
”One of our main goals in August when we sat down and made team goals was trust, being able to trust,” Tessein said. “From that trust that they felt within one another, they’ve grown in confidence in their own play. They’ve all grown confident in their abilities to be competitive.”
The Knights did all they had to in order to move on. And while the offense was struggling to find the goal, Lauren Hausheer made two saves for the shutout to back a defense that was stifling from the Knights.
”Going through an entire season with this team, they have tremendous heart,” Tessein said. “They fight from beginning to end. They’re really working well together at this point, which is the time you really want your team to mesh. You can’t teach heart — I’m lucky these girls are passionate and driven and play as hard as you can. You want them to leave everything on the field, and they do that.”