Saying Goodbye to the 2019 Field Hockey Season
December 9, 2019
With 13 graduating seniors, the end of Lakeland Lancer field hockey’s 2019 season can also be described as ‘the end of an era.’
The Lakeland field hockey September 3 season opener resulted in a 2-0 loss against Wayne Valley, but the team bounced back, making a quick recovery and winning a September 5 home game against Westwood. Abigail Slaman and Madison Stout scored the first two goals of the season, and from there, the team went on to consecutively win seven games.
Senior Cory Sahanas scored the winning goal in a September 7 away game against LRHS’ rival, West Milford. When interviewed, Sahanas said that a major team goal for this year was “to be just as much offense-oriented as [they] were defensively,” and with the team’s 67 goals and 63 assists, this goal was certainly accomplished.
The Lady Lancer’s worked their way to the Passaic County Tournament finals for the third consecutive year with a 4-0 win against Wayne Hills in a semifinal game held on October 5; goals were scored by seniors Sahanas, Izabella Peralta (News 12 NJ 2019 Scholar Athlete), Stout and Annie Wogisch, with two assists from Nicole Bergmann.
The tournament finals were held at West Milford’s McCormack field on October 10, where the Lancers lost 1-0 to Wayne Valley, which resulted in the loss of the PCT championship. In this game, goalie Hadley Noonan recorded five out of the 254 total goalie saves this season.
Following a win on their October 23 senior night, the season ended on an emotional loss when Hackettstown won 1-0 overtime in the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 2 quarterfinals, held at Wanaque.
Lakeland field hockey players stayed in their offensive half of the field for the majority of the game, and ended the first half with eight penalty corners, six shots on goal, and one goalie save; the second half had ten penalty corners, one shot on goal, and no goalie saves.
A major goal this year was to win county finals, and though it was not accomplished, the season was still described as a success. Stout, this year’s leading scorer, describes the numerous wins, making it to both counties and states, and team growth as successes. Slaman, a sophomore and varsity starter, describes the season positively, saying the team “got stronger… and did [their] best throughout the season.”
The team formed a close bond, and Sahanas described it as “the most fun season I’ve had in Lakeland Field Hockey.” Senior Goalie Cassidy Karlak said that “this year the team really played together on and off the field and had a lot of fun together.”
The team warms up before a state game on October 25.
This year’s star players were seniors Keira Marks, Kylie Berkemeyer, Peralta, Sahanas, Stout, and sophomore Slaman. Marks is a defender who ended the season with five goals and nine assists; Berkemeyer plays full back, and made many goal line saves this season; Peralta is a defender who ended the season with one goal and four assists; Sahanas plays offense and ended the season with 11 goals and four assists; Stout was this year’s leading scorer and ended with 16 goals and nine assists; Slaman plays offense and ended the season with six goals and 12 assists.
All of these girls are outstanding and aggressive athletes that play essential roles in the team.