HNT Field Hockey: Old Bridge ready to make history

The Old Bridge High School field hockey team hasn't forgotten how close it came to being No. 1 in the Greater Middlesex Conference last season. 

The Knights, which were making their first appearance in a GMC Tournament final, fell to South Plainfield 4-3 in double overtime. The sting of that loss has stayed with Old Bridge, and will be a driving force for the team this season. 

"The lineup coming back is pretty much locked and loaded," fourth-year Old Bridge coach Danielle Toth said. "I think this year we’re going to be up there. If these girls play as well as they did last year and keep working hard and keep developing, I know they have their sights already set on the GMCs, I foresee if we keep doing what we’re doing and keep working hard, we’re going to be there."

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Old Bridge only lost four varsity players to graduation last year, including goalie Rebecca Szuminsky and GMC Defender of the Year Janelle Harden. The loss of Harden and Szuminsky has been felt in the lineup during preseason, but Toth is confident her players will step up and fill the holes.

"That was a hard hit for us, but we do have defensive players that are stepping up," Toth said. "I’m very confident that we will be able to perform at the level that we did last year, if not better."

The Knights have their entire offense returning, including leading scorer Mikayla Van Horn, a junior forward who finished with 18 goals and five assists last season. A bulk of the offensive line are juniors, including midfielder Abby Zimmerlink (six goals, 10 assists), forward Alexis Zimmerlink (six goals, seven assists), midfielder/forward Makayla Charlie (one goal, five assists), and defenders Isabella Marte and Alyana Marrero (three goals). Senior Erin Handy (three goals, two assists) also returns to help anchor a somewhat young defensive line. 

According to Toth, there are two sophomores that have shown promise in defender Allison Delaney and midfielder Faith Gallagher. 

"The whole offense is coming back, the defense needs to recover but having a strong offense that knows how to play with each other and pass is going to help us," Handy said. "We did lose Janelle and Rebecca, they were the backbones of the team, but the underclassmen are stepping up and they know the shoes they have to fill seeing how far we went."

Old Bridge, which finished 13-7-1 after seeing its season come to a close in the NJSIAA North 2 Group IV semifinals, is ready to use the experience it gained last year in order to have a successful, winning season. South Plainfield will again be a team to watch out for in the GMC, along with tournament semifinalists Monroe and Metuchen. 

"Of course South Plainfield, we’re always looking out for them, they gave us a run for our money last year, but they took some hits this year so I’m interested to see what happens," Toth said. "They always put out a great product, their team is always top notch. We heard good things about Metuchen, so those are two teams right now I feel that may shake things up."

With the season set to start against Delaware Valley on Sept. 5, the Knights are ready to embark on a journey that hopefully leads to raising the first GMC Tournament champions banner. 

"I’m just excited to watch my kids play and develop and achieve," Toth said. "I took over four years ago, so these seniors started as freshmen, and I’m excited to see what happens this year. They’ve gotten better from year to year and this year I think they’re just going to explode."

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