OCEAN CITY — To say the Ocean City High School field hockey team is young this season would be an understatement. At any point, according to head coach Kelsey Burke, there are five freshmen and two sophomores on the field.
“We have a lot of freshmen starting this year so we’re hoping to get some good experience and build our team,” said Ginger Mumman, a senior who was captain for Saturday’s game against Gloucester County Institute of Technology. The Red Raider girls lost 1-0 in a defensive battle.
“Each game we set different goals and by the end of the season we have a lot of things we need to accomplish,” added the other captain for the game, senior Carlee Hiddeman. “We want to go far in the CAL (Cape-Atlantic League), we want to go far in the state. I think we’re taking the right steps forward each game to get to that goal.”
Captain Madelyn Adamson, a multi-sport starter who is sitting out her entire senior year recuperating from an injury, said the squad is getting better every day.
“We have a young group but I think we’re getting more and more experience,” she said. “We’re progressing more in the CAL, progressing more in states and getting 1 percent better every game.”
Much of the team’s youth is centered on the attack.
“Our forwards are freshmen and sophomores,” coach Burke said. “At any given time we have five freshmen and two sophomores on the field, so there is a little bit of a learning curve but the girls are doing a great job.
“I feel like they’re sponges every day at practice learning. We are seeing what we’re working on translate into game play, so I’m happy about that.”
The freshmen attackers are Lily Cozamanis and Lyla Clark along with sophomores Stevie Wright and Casey Adamson, Madelyn’s younger sister.
The midfield includes Caroline Bickings, Sophia Wright and Marley Dwyer.
“They are freshmen and they’ve all been playing significant minutes,” Burke said. “Then we have Ella Jefferson, who is a senior, and Ginger Mumman, a senior, and Darby Gould has been playing some midfield too.”
Jefferson and Cozamanis have 2 goals each so far this season and Stevie Wright and Bickings have 1 each. Hiddeman and Jefferson have 2 assists apiece.
The defense is anchored by seniors, including four-year starting goalie Taryn Dolka.
Across the first three games of the season, a 1-0 loss to Our Lady of Mercy Academy (OLMA), a 2-1 loss to Seneca and 5-1 win over St. Joseph’s of Hammonton, Dolka made 32 saves. She added another 3 saves in Saturday’s game.
“This is her fourth year as starting goalie, so she definitely dominates back there,” Burke said. “She is doing a great job for us anchoring defensively and that’s kind of what we expect from her as a senior.”
The coach is feeling the absence of Madelyn Adamson.
“Madelyn was a big loss for us in the offseason. She is senior captain and I’m really disappointed not having her on the field, but I think Carlee (Hiddeman), Taylor (Vaugh) and Maya (Kolimaga) have been doing a good job so far. Just like the freshmen, they’re absorbing everything we’re telling them at practice.
“I’m excited to see the growth. We’ve seen some growth so far and we hope that will continue.”
With a 1-2-1 record early in the season, Burke expects her team to make steady progress.
“We’re getting better every day. The first game of the year we went to OLMA on the grass and we tied. We were disappointed with how we played. (Last) Saturday we hosted Seneca here and we lost, but we felt a lot better how we played. We were able to maintain more possession and do some of the things we were working on in practice.
“We’ve been talking a lot about progress,” she added. “Every single day we should be getting better so come playoff time we’re in a better spot and we’re chasing our goals.”
The girls are away at Hammonton on Friday and St. Joseph on Monday, but will be home for a rematch with OLMA at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, at the Tennessee Avenue field.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
