Tournament losses driving South Plainfield field hockey

The South Plainfield High School field hockey team has learned some pretty important lessons the past couple of seasons, stemming from heartbreaking losses in both the county and state tournaments. This season, the Tigers are looking to finally pick up some hardware. 

Last season, South Plainfield advanced to the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament for the second straight year and fell to Monroe as the No. 1 seed. In the NJSIAA North 2 Group II semifinals, the third-seeded Tigers fell to No. 2 Voorhees in double-overtime 2-1. This season, coach Melissa Szeliga is hoping her squad will use the lessons they learned from those two games in order to move forward. 

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"We’ve made it to that GMC final twice now as I was a head coach, and they’ve made it years prior, and we just have to get over that little hump," Szeliga said. "We get there, and we kind of break down and don’t play our game, so I think really for this year is not only to get there but to play our game the way we know how and not let anything else affect us, because I think that’s that last little hump we need to get over to try and get the championship I know these girls are working hard for."

The Tigers will have to get there without the help of a number of seniors who graduated this past June, including goalie Stephanie Bohn, defensive center back Meghan Hughes (six goals, eight assists) and the entire defensive line. Despite the hit taken by graduating so many players with varsity experience, Szeliga is confident the girls who spent last season watching and learning will step up and fill in those spots flawlessly.

"We’ve got another nine or 10 seniors right now, so they’re really stepping in. The first week of preseason, we definitely felt it a little bit more, but now they’ve totally taken stride and have really filled in those places very well," Szeliga said. "My defense from midfield back is completely brand-new this year, and a lot of these younger kids have stepped up really nicely to fill in those spots because I think they had such great role models last year to look up to."

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While the defensive line took a major hit, the Tigers' offensive line remains largely intact. Senior Caity Hughes, the reigning Home News Tribune Player of the Year, returns after leading the team with 41 goals and 11 assists last year. Hughes, who according to Szeliga has only been playing field hockey for three years, has picked up exactly where she left off last season.

"This year she’s just a full and well-rounded player now, so she understands what needs to happen," Szeliga said of Hughes. "She’s seeing things a lot better now as compared to last year, so we’re excited to see what she can do this season."

Also returning is senior Nicole Zultowksi, who finished with 12 goals and nine assists last year, as well as senior Angela Sanchez (13 goals, two assists). Senior Mary McNeil (three goals, six assists) is the starting center midfielder, while junior Erica Cieszkiewicz, who came off the bench last year, is filling the hole at center back. 

South Plainfield will face Piscataway in the season opener at home on Thursday at 4 p.m. The Tigers then have nine straight games against GMC opponents, before facing Summit and Monroe back to back the first week of October. With a roster full of young players who are itching for a chance to make a difference, as well as a large group of experience-laden seniors who have already made a point of leading by example, the Tigers should have no problem repeating their success from last season.

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"We’ve had a few scrimmages now, and what’s nice is that we actually have depth in our bench this year too, so no matter who’s out there, they’re keeping the same level of intensity and really stepping into whatever spot we’re putting them into," Szeliga said. "Replacing an entire defense as a whole has been really tough, so I think that’s something that we’re really focusing on right now, and the girls are doing awesome with just soaking everything in at this point."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego