By Kristen Dalton
Digital Sports field hockey correspondent

            Hey everyone, my name is Kristen Dalton and I’ll be covering Shore Conference field hockey for the 2008 season. I hope everyone is just as excited as I am to get things underway and to begin a fun, competitive year!

            To give you a little bit of information about myself, I’m currently a junior at Lehigh University, where I’m studying journalism and communication. I also play basketball for the Mountain Hawks and we’ve just finished up our first official week of preseason workouts. In high school, I played for Monmouth Regional, where I helped turn around the program with a couple of state  sectional and division titles.

            Even though my background is not field hockey, I know what it means to be an athlete. And I know that Shore Conference athletics has proven to be some of the most competitive and challenging leagues in the state. The great thing about sports is that the emotion, the physical pain, the mental toughness, all of the intangibles that go beyond the X’s and O’s on the whiteboard—those things are universal no matter what sport you play. So hopefully, I’ll be able to bring that perspective across in this weekly notebook.

            But more importantly, my goal is to shine the spotlight on as many teams and as many individuals as possible, and rightfully so. Having said that, it would be incredibly helpful to me if I got as much feedback as possible from the coaches, players and fans. I welcome all feedback and insights as long as it is fair, unbiased and respectful. You can reach me via email at DSkdalton@gmail.com.

            In the business world, they say that the first 30 seconds of an encounter is the most important when making a first impression. But in the world of sports, the only impression that matters is a lasting one. So let’s not take this Preseason Top 10 too seriously. Besides, all that matters is how you finish. And fortunately, my opinion won’t interfere with the numbers at the end of the season.

            I wish the best of luck to all of the teams in the Shore Conference as well as a healthy year for all of our hardworking players.

           

Pre-season Top 10

1) SHORE: Won their 9^th straight SCT, 15th overall last year. Not to mention won its division for the 37^th consecutive year and earned its 22^nd NJSIAA state sectional title, before losing to Oak Knoll in the final. The Blue Devils are well aware of the fact that everyone is gunning for them. But they’re also aware that they’ve handled the pressure extremely well over the years. It probably doesn’t hurt to have the nation’s winningest field hockey coach either.

 

2) FREEHOLD: Won its first ever NJSIAA state sectional title and made it all the way to the Group III sfinal before losing to the eventual Tournament of Champions winner, Shawnee. Successful head coach Jerrilyn Acevedo looks to lead her team to another successful season.

 

3) HOLMDEL: Also won its first NJSIAA state sectional title in school history and made it all the way to the SCT semifinals. Head coach Karen Baldwin enters her third season with a lot of momentum.

 

4) SOUTHERN: This young squad returns a bulk of its players and will face an early test against Shore Regional in their season opener. “Somebody’s got to play them, for crying out loud,” said head coach Kathy Snyder, a former player for Williams at Shore. “You've got to play the good teams to see where you are. We’ll do it.” This kind of up-for-the-challenge attitude just may be a key component for their success this year.

 

5) WALL: Had an extremely solid season last year with a young squad and some stand-out players. A year of experience should help propel this team farther into the run for the title.

 

6) CENTRAL: Dominated the Class B South division last year and will look to continue its unbeaten division streak and wreak some more havoc in the conference and state tournaments. With the arrival of Jackson Liberty in the division, the dynamics are going to interesting, to say the least. “It’s going to be a pretty competitive race,” said head coach Madeline Dutton, who admits that going unscored upon last season in the division was quite a rarity. 

 

7) MIDDLETOWN NORTH: Returns everyone but two starters due to graduation and the Lions will be in the hunt for their third Class A North title in three years. “We have a lot of experience over the last couple of years and have a lot of three- and four-year players returning and that’ll definitely help us this year,” said head coach Bill LaFalce. “Each year more and more teams are becoming more competitive and there are some surprises coming up. There seems to be more and more good teams in the Shore.”

 

8) OCEAN: After winning the Class B North division last year, they made some noise in the SCT but came up just short as they gave Shore a run for their money by taking the Blue Devils to overtime in the final.

 

9) ST. ROSE: Handed Shore Regional its only regular-season loss last year and will look to do more damage this season. Head coach Agnes Whitfield said she not only wants to repeat as parochial champs, but wants to win the Class B Central division outright from Shore this year. “This year, hopefully with different positions being made, we’ll be just as successful as last year. I think if I put people in the right places, we’ll be all right on the season.”

 

10) RUMSON: Tied Shore twice during the regular season and looks to push the Blue Devils once again during the regular season while trying to make a deep run in the Shore Conference Tournament.

Players to Watch

            Kim Pobutkiewicz, Sr. Def, Shore: The 2007 DigitalSports Field Hockey Player of the Year, Pobutkiewicz is a key cog in Shore’s defense system, which allowed just 12 goals and recorded 13 shutouts in 21 games last season. She finished the season with 12 assists, seven of those during Shore’s journey to its ninth straight SCT title.

            Jillian Anzalone, Sr. Def, Jackson Liberty: A 2007 DigitalSports first-team selection, she totaled 12 goals and 11 assists last year and is headed to Wake Forest.

            Jennifer Balka, Sr. Fwd, Wall: A 2007 DigitalSports first-team selection, she scored 20 goals last season, and had five multi-goal games including a hat-trick in Wall’s 3-1 Central Jersey semifinal win over Pemberton.

            Alex Diekmann, Jr. GK, Holmdel: A 2007 DigitalSports first-team selection, she was the mainstay for the Hornets' defense, especially during times when the offense was struggling last season. She came up huge with a big game in the Central Jersey Group II final in a 2-1 shootout win over Allentown.

            Meghan Gibson, Sr. Fwd, Freehold: A 2007 DigitalSports first-team selection, she scored in all five of Freehold’s state tournament victories en route to its first ever state sectional title. Finished second in the Shore Conference in scoring with 28 goals and 20 assists.

            Alyssa Mayo, Sr. Mid, Central: A 2007 DigitalSports first-team selection, she helped Central to a record-setting 18-3 win season last year; finished with six goals and 17 assists.

            Brenna Rescigno, Jr. Mid, Shore: A 2007 DigitalSports first-team selection, she received the AAU Joel Ferrell Outstanding Performance Memorial Award in the summer of 2008 at the Junior Olympics held at the University of Michigan. Finished up last season with eight goals and 10 assists.

            Jessica Fritz, Fwd, Central: A 2007 DigitalSports second-team selection, she led the Shore Conference in goals scored with 43 last year.