OCEAN CITY – The Red Raider field hockey team held powerhouse St. Joseph of Hammonton off the scoreboard for three quarters Monday afternoon.
Senior Casey Adamson scored late in the third period on an assist from Lyla Clark to give Ocean City High School the 1-0 lead heading into the fourth period. St. Joseph’s Miranda DiGerolamo, who leads her team in scoring, was finally able to put two shots into the Red Raider cage late in the game to come out with the win and remain unbeaten at 5-0.
“I think it was a good matchup. I think we played hard. I think we executed our plan. We just fell a little short,” Ocean City head coach Carole Williams said. “I think (the Wildcats) started pressing up a little higher and we didn’t make the adjustment for it.”
Williams added her team, now 2-2 on the young season, is “full of talent.
“We’re coming back a little stronger than we were last year. We’ve added three impactful freshmen and they’re doing a nice job,” she said. “The girls are working really hard. They’re finding their chemistry, and I think our best field hockey is in front of us.”
The team’s goal is to be “a force.”
“We want people to say, ‘oh, we’ve got to play Ocean City today.’ That’s where we are. And I think we’re going to get there if we’re not already. We’re going to play into that role,” Williams said.
The three freshmen added to the roster are Abbie Herrington, Alice Bickings and Maddie Brown. They’re bolstering a team with a lot of experience, led by captains Stevie Wright and Adamson.
Brown is coming into the attack led by Clark, Adamson and Wright, “a lot of good talent.”
Herrington is going to the midfield, with Everlee Peak, Rose Marczyk and Lily Cozamanis off the bench. Brown will spend time in the midfield as well.
Junior Marley Dwyer, a University of Pennsylvania commit, was on defense against St. Joseph on Monday, but expect her to be all over the field.
“She’s my utility knife,” Williams said.
“Today I had her in the backfield and it worked. We just couldn’t hold them off there at the end,” the coach said, “but (Dwyer) is a true midfielder.”
Junior Caroline Bickings is anchoring the defense and is now joined by Alice Bickings back there. “I have sisters playing side by side, which is awesome,” Williams said. Also on defense is Nellie Schwegman, a returning sophomore, “who had a really nice game today.”
All the way back, in the cage, is senior Devin Dolka. Dolka made 12 saves in the game; the Red Raiders forced a pair of St. Joseph goalies to make seven saves of their own.
The team’s captains, back for their second year in that role, were proud of how the Red Raiders played against St. Joseph, which only lost once in the Cape-Atlantic League last year (to Ocean City in an upset).
“I think this was the best game we played collectively. I think we had a lot of energy and we were motivated, and I think that showed on the field,” Adamson said. “I thought we played great and I’m happy. I’m proud of our game. We need to build on it, but I’m happy with today.”
“Honestly, I feel a lot better than the recent games that we’ve played, especially losing to Hammonton 3-0,” Wright said. “I think that we built a lot from that game and we played much harder as a team and we connected way more as a team. So I am also proud of our team and the way that we played.”
Both seniors have the same goals: to win the CAL and win a state championship. They want to just “keep building” every game and living up to their team slogan this year: “setting the standard every game.”
The Red Raiders opened their season with an 8-1 win over Gloucester Tech before falling to Hammonton. They beat Millville 9-0 before Monday’s 2-1 loss to St. Joseph.
Four games in, Adamson leads in scoring with 4 goals and 2 assists for 10 points; Clark has 9 points on 2 goals and 5 assists; Wright and Peak each have 3 goals for 6 points; Caroline Bickings also has 6 points on 1 goal and 4 assists. Senior Brynn Madden, junior Cozamanis, Schwegman, Dwyer and Alice Bickings have a goal each.
The girls host Holy Spirit at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the turf field on Tennessee Avenue, then travel to Mainland Regional at 4 p.m. Friday.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
