Freehold Township High School’s Raegen Dunn takes a shot on goal against Cherokee High School’s Sam Rubin during the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV championship on Nov. 7 at Freehold Township. The Patriots finally broke through in the second half to score a goal and beat the Chiefs, 1-0, to score the program’s third sectional title in the last four years. STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ERIC SUCAR The mantra of the Freehold Township High School field hockey team for 2014 was “Get it Back.”
The “it” was the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV championship.
After consecutive wins in 2011 and 2012, the Patriots were defeated by crosstown rival Freehold High School last fall in their bid for three straight.
The Patriots remembered that loss well when the playoffs began, and they were not going to be denied again.
Playing at home on Nov. 7, the No. 2-seed Patriots had the opportunity to reclaim the championship and did not waste it. They beat a very tough Cherokee High School team led by a great goalie in Sam Rubin, 1-0. “It’s an amazing feeling,” said the Patriots’ Jessica Pietracatella, who scored the only goal of the game in the second half. “[Cherokee was] a great team [and] a big challenge.
“We came, we fought and we all hustled.”
It was that constant push running down every ball that made the difference in the 1-0 win.
It was only fitting that Pietracatella, the most active of all the Patriots, scored the game-winner.
“I was bringing [the ball] up the side, and I just shot it,” she said. “Fortunately, it went in.”
The Patriots knew what they were up against in fourth-seeded Cherokee from what the Chiefs’ goalie, Rubin, had done to top-seeded Freehold High School in the semifinals. She constantly denied the Colonials on one penalty corner after another, leaving the cage, playing the angles and clearing shots with her feet.
The teams were deadlocked at 1-1 after regulation and 20 minutes of overtime. A shootout would determine which team advanced. And with Rubin stopping four of the five Colonials penalty strokes, the Chiefs won the shootout, 3-1.
Patriots head coach Kara Gardner had a game plan for Rubin.
“We had to crash the goal,” she said. “We practiced rebounds and deflections.”
Although it was a straight-up shot by Pietracatella that produced the only score of the game, the Patriots listened to their coach and attacked the Chiefs inside the circle all day. Rubin kept turning them away, and the game was scoreless going into the second half.
Pietracatella said the Patriots were not intimidated by Rubin — as good as she was — and stuck to the game plan.
“We just kept pressing — moving to the ball [and] being strong and aggressive,” she said.
That’s what Pietracatella was doing as she was bringing the ball up the wing: being aggressive and looking to make something happen. That’s what she was thinking on what turned out to be the game-winning goal. When she released her shot, she said she wanted to “see where it goes. Maybe someone could get a stick on it.”
Instead, she heard the ball hitting the back of the cage, and Freehold Township was on the board and on its way to the title.
Gardner pointed out that Pietracatella “played all over. She sprinted to everything. She was amazing.
With the lead, the Patriots had to make it stick, which they did behind the defense of MaKayla Pak and Kellie Hennessey, which held the Chiefs to two shots that were stopped by goalie Megan Callahan.
Gardner couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome and getting the sectional title back.
“It feels really good, “ she said. “They played awesome.”
Freehold Township defeated West Windsor
Plainsboro High School South, 6-1, in the quarterfinals and Jackson Memorial High School, 1-0, in the semifinals.
Jessica Pietracatella had two goals and two assists, and Stefanie Blair added two goals and an assist in the win over West Windsor-Plainsboro South. Shannon Cestero and Samantha Verga also scored, and Marie Pietracatella had three assists.
Against Jackson Memorial, Jessica Pietracatella scored the game’s only goal, while Callahan registered the shutout.
Freehold Township, an impressive 15-2- 4 on the season, is scheduled to play the state’s top-ranked team, Eastern, the South Jersey winner, in the Group IV semifinal at Eastern Regional High School in Camden County on Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. Eastern is 23-0.