This year’s Cinnaminson High School field hockey team has started out their season with a bang. The team started working hard and training in the preseason to get them ready for those hard 100 yard sprints during the games. This has resulted in the team collecting a 10-5-3 record and a thrilling first-round playoff victory over Gloucester on Friday afternoon.

With nine seniors graduating from last year’s team, the whole team has stepped up to fill their shoes. “We have a young team with only two seniors,” Coach Quaranta explained.

The team is usually senior heavy, and so this is an odd difference.  Since a lot of the team graduated last year, the incoming freshman had to learn the way Cinnaminson field hockey plays on and off the field so they were ready for anything thrown at them.

Coach Q has noticed how hard the girls have been working to win every game they play. She is, “expecting the players to keep working hard, playing strong and keeping the intensity levels high as we enter the postseason.” The biggest goal of the season is to make a longer run in the playoffs this year than in the past and hopefully have their first round of playoffs on their home field.

Holy Cross has always been one of CHS’s biggest rivals. A win against Holy Cross is always a big win for CHS in any sport. Starting off the season with a huge 3-2 win against Holy Cross helped to drive the momentum of the team forward.

“That was my favorite moment of the season so far,” explained Coach Quaranta.

However, the team’s play was up and down throughout the season, resulting in the 10-5-3 record.  Heading into the playoffs, the girls had lost three of their final four games of the regular season after a hot streak where they won six of seven games.

So, going into the playoff game on Friday, the outcome was anyone’s guess against an always-game Gloucester High School team.  The Lady Pirates scored first in the first half when junior Rebecca Shinn scored, but CHS could not hold the lead after Gloucester tied it in the second half.  The game went to overtime, but neither team could score in both overtimes, so the game went to penalty strokes.

Freshman Marissa Porrini scored during penalty strokes, but Gloucester again tied it.  It was not until senior Nicole Teague scored for CHS and junior Lauren Friedrich held firm in goal for CHS.

With the win, CHS moves on in the Central Jersey Group 1 playoffs to face top-seeded Haddonfield on Tuesday.  Haddonfield will enter the contest with an 18-1-1 record and on a current streak of scoring at least four goals in each of their last six games.