Another Strong Season for South Jersey Field Hockey
South Jersey had yet another strong showing this year in field hockey, with two state champions and a state finalist.
Kingsway and Clearview not only represented South Jersey but also the Tri-County Royal Division in repeating as state champs. For Kingsway, it was the third consecutive state Group 4 title, while Clearview successfully defended its state Group 3 crown.
Camden Catholic won a South Jersey title and lost to Oak Knoll 3-1 in the Non-Public state championship game.
Clearview’ strongest competition came in the South Jersey Group 3 tournament. The Pioneers beat Hammonton, 2-1 in the sectional semifinal before earning a 3-2 overtime win over Shawnee in the title game. Alaina Lomonaco scored twice against Shawnee including the game-winner in overtime.
Lomonaco capped her season and her career by scoring the first two goals of the game as Clearview beat Northern Highlands, 3-0 in the state Group 3 championship. She finished as Clearview’s leading scorer with 35 goals and 16 assists.
To demonstrate how difficult the Royal Division was, Clearview finished third, behind champion Kingsway and Washington Township (13-5-2). Clearview ended 18-4-1, with all but one of the losses coming in the Royal Division.
Kingsway (15-7) went 8-0 in the Royal Division. The Dragons’ only loss to a team from the seven-county South Jersey area was 3-1 on Oct. 3 at Camden Catholic.
Kingsway overcame a 1-0 deficit to defeat Montclair, 2-1 in the Group 4 state championship game. Michigan commit Grace Hunter scored the equalizer in the second quarter, her 14th of the season. University of Maryland commit Erin Callahan scored the game-winner in the fourth quarter. This season Callahan scored eight goals and led the Dragons with 15 assists.
Before the state final, Kingsway had breezed through the South Jersey tournament, outscoring four teams, 34-3. The only competitive game among the four was a 4-2 quarterfinal win over Eastern.
During the previous two years, Kingsway only lost a total of four games, but the Dragons graduated some top players after last year’s state championship. Plus, they played one of the more ambitious schedules in the state.
This was a team that hit its stride at the most opportune time.
Junior Isabella Sanchez scored a team-high 22 goals, while senior Karlie Mertz added 20. Both players have committed to St. Joseph’s University.
Camden Catholic entered the state final ranked No. 1 in the state according to NJ.com. The Irish lost in the state championship game to an Oak Knoll team that was No. 3. It is still likely Camden Catholic will be considered the No. 1 team in South Jersey since the Irish beat Kingsway in the aforementioned regular season game.
South Jersey has long been known as a field hockey hotbed and this year the elite teams continued to perform at an extremely high level.
Photo: Grace Hunter of Kingsway No. 21 / Marc Narducci
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Author: Marc Narducci
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