Field Hockey Looking to Rebound in 2011

The field hockey team finished the 2010 season with a record of 7-8-1, lost in the playoffs to Manasquan, and scored only 14 goals on the season.

“Without a doubt the biggest thing we need to improve upon this year is scoring. We scored 14 goals last year,” head coach Kara McGough said.

The Pirates’ biggest rivals are Holy Cross and Delran because the three teams play within the same division; however, things change from year to year depending on the strength of all the teams.

“Another strong opponent in our division is New Egypt. We have a really, really tough division, I think. Now we have New Egypt, who is a powerhouse in hockey,” McGough said.

The three captains on the 2011 squad are Gabby Citro, Alex Halfen, and Charlotte Kearns, who are the only seniors on the team. The 2010 squad graduated nine seniors, leaving a young team to take the field in 2011.

“Seven of the nine seniors were starters last year so we are a young, rebuilding team,” McGough said.

Despite the lack of veteran presence on the varsity squad, the junior class saw a lot of action at the varsity level in 2010, which could help on the field this year.

“We only have one returning senior who started last year and a whole bunch of juniors started last year when they were sophomores.” McGough said. “I think we are going to surprise some people. We are going to win some games that maybe we weren’t expected to win.”

The strength of this year’s club will be in the sheer volume of players within the program. Between the varsity, junior varsity, and freshman levels there are 40 players in the program; the most the program has had in quite some time.

The Pirates opened their season with a 6-2 loss to Rancocas Valley, a 3-0 win over Burlington Township, and a 7-3 loss to New Egypt. The team hosts Delran on Friday afternoon.