South Plainfield field hockey wins GMC Tournament title
EAST BRUNSWICK - After losing in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final the previous three years, the South Plainfield High School field hockey team’s goal set at the beginning of the 2016 season was simple, “get back to the tournament final and finally win it.”
Top-ranked South Plainfield captured the elusive conference title with a thrilling 4-3 double overtime victory over No. 2 Old Bridge on Thursday at East Brunswick High School.
Junior Caity Hughes scored the game-winning goal with 3:59 remaining in the second overtime as the Tigers became the first team to win the conference tournament without losing or tying a single game.
“I knew we needed to win,” said Hughes, who leads the Tigers with 33 goals this season. “This was one of our main goals, to come back and win the GMCs. We knew how it felt to lose so we just really wanted to win.”
The Tigers' experience in the tournament final was displayed as South Plainfield remained calm after falling behind early. Old Bridge got on the board first in the 15th minute as sophomore Mikayla Van Horn was able to find the ball in a scrum and put it in the back of the cage.
Trailing 1-0, the Tigers were able to quickly respond less than four minutes later as Nicole Zultowski scored the equalizer off of a pass from Hughes. Angela Sanchez put her stick on the ball right before the half to give the Tigers a 2-1 at the break.
With a one-point game at the half, Old Bridge came out of the second half firing as sophomore Lexi Zimmerlink was able to get a stick on ball in front of several South Plainfield defenders to tie the game at 2-2.
For South Plainfield head coach Melissa Szeliga, the back-and-forth type game was expected as the Tigers and the Knights faced off against each other just last week in a game that ended in another 4-3 overtime victory for South Plainfield.
“That Old Bridge team is just phenomenal,” Szeliga said. “They brought us to overtime last time too, they are just very tough.”
Huges scored the go-ahead goal halfway through the second half to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead, but Van Horn's second goal forced the first overtime as she knocked the ball in for the Knights with just 10:25 remaining in regulation.
The rest of the game was about both teams' defenses fighting hard to not give up the final goal.
South Plainfield goalkeeper Tatiana Sutor was stout between the pipes, as she racked up 13 saves including several game-saving stops in both overtime periods.
Sutor was active all night as Old Bridges' offense finished the contest with 18 shots on goal.
With time winding down in the second overtime, exhaustion was starting to show for both sides, but with the tournament title on the line, the two teams were able to push through. After each offense traded opportunities with long runs to the cage in the final minutes, the battled-tested Hughes had one more long run in her as she found the ball from about 30-yards out and was able to make a defender miss, stop on a dime and knock in the tournament clinching goal.
“I knew we needed to win, this was our third time here,” Hughes said. "I was tired but I pushed through and just scored the goal.”
For Hughes, who also scored the game-winning goal in last weeks' overtime win against Old Bridge, clinching the tournament in such thrilling fashion is a feeling she will hold onto forever.
"It feels amazing," she said. "It feels so surreal I cant even explain it."
After Hughes' tournament clinching goal, the Tigers bench stormed the field and celebrated the teams' first tournament victory since 2012.
"Last time we won, it was four years ago on this field in dramatic fashion too," said Szeliga. "My girls just really dug deep. This team is just really special from top to bottom."
