SB field hockey narrowly misses postseason play
BY GEORGE ALBANO Staff Writer
For the second year in a row, the girls field hockey season ended in disappointment at South Brunswick High School.

Just like last year, the 2007 Lady Vikings missed the state tournament by one game as they finished 6-8-2 and were denied what would have been the first postseason berth since the field hockey program at SBHS was restarted in 2002.

What made falling short this season even tougher was that the Vikings got off to a promising 4-1-2 start the first half of the season and appeared headed for that elusive state tournament.

What's more, South Brunswick's early surge included an impressive 4-0 victory over defending GMC champion Metuchen, as well as wins over Old Bridge (3-2), Sayreville (1- 0) and Piscataway (5-1). The Vikings ended the first half of the schedule with a scoreless tie against Red Division rival Monroe, which was 3-1 at the time.

Yes, all signs pointed to the state tournament for this year's South Brunswick field hockey team.

But then came the second half of the season and a 1-0 loss in a rematch against Old Bridge. Undaunted, the Vikings came back in their next game and took a 1-0 lead against East Brunswick, the only team to beat South Brunswick in the first half of the season, 3-2 in the third game. The Vikings seemed poised to avenge that loss, but the Bears rallied to win 2-1.

FILE PHOTO North Brunswick's Scott DeAndre intercepts a pass in last year's Thanksgiving Day game against South Brunswick. The Raiders will look to avenge last year's loss to the Vikings next Thursday at 10 a.m.

Those back-to-back losses started a downward trend that saw the Vikings go 2-7 in their final nine games and miss qualifying for the state tourney by one game at the mid-October cutoff point.

"I was devastated," said head coach Danielle Matlack, who completed her sixth season since restarting the field hockey program. "I felt so bad for this group of girls, especially the seniors. They all worked really hard and seemed to be trying to do all the right things.

"But in the second half of the season, it seemed like somebody just didn't want us to win. It seemed like we just couldn't catch a break. We went up against East Brunswick and then let in two goals. We let in a late score in the loss to Old Bridge. Against South Plainfield, there were three minutes left, maybe even less, when they scored the winning goal.

"So everything just went against us. We had a lot of tough losses."

The two toughest losses, however, may have been season-ending injuries to senior midfielder Danielle Hudak and junior Carly Bossert, two key starters.

"Danielle had a torn meniscus and ACL in the second Metuchen game," Matlack explained. "And Carly actually went out with two concussions. She had one in the Monroe game, then came back and had another concussion in the South Plainfield game and was out for the rest of the season."

With Hudak and Bossert out of the lineup, Matlack was forced to turn to a bench short on varsity experience.

"The kids who came in, some of them played on the freshman team last year," she pointed out. "They did a real good job, but they just didn't have the varsity experience.

"Of the remaining games we lost, all but one of them were

one-goal games. So having

Danielle and Carly definitely could've made a difference just

with their experience."

At least Bossert will be

back next season for her senior year. Hudak, however, won't have that opportunity.

"I felt so bad for Danielle," Matlack said. "She's always in great shape and came ready to play this year. Then to have her get hurt her senior year, you can't have that back.

"It's tough when you lose a midfielder. Danielle and Jen Sisco [another senior midfielder] have worked together for three years. They didn't even have to talk when they were on the field because they always knew where the other one was.

"But once Danielle was injured, that made it tough for Jen."

That didn't prevent Sisco, however, from still being named to the Coaches' All- GMC team along with senior forward Ashley Wandishin. Both of them were also selected to play in the North Jersey Senior All-Star Game on Dec. 2, along with Laura Pantin, a senior defender who received Honorable Mention All-GMC.

A pair of juniors, Maggie Ford on defense and Corey Webb at midfield, were also Honorable Mention selections. Those two and Bossert will be among five starters returning next season.

"We had six seniors and they were all starters," Matlack noted. "But the other five starters come back, so that's good. Plus, I guess one positive is that some of the kids who filled in because of the injuries got playing time and more experience for next year. That should help."