The Madison Dodger Field Hockey Team spent countless hours throughout the summer preparing for this time of the season. Last week, on Thursday, November 3rd, the second seeded Lady Dodgers played against the top seeded Shore Regional High School. It was a back and forth game, and after almost the entire first half going by, Catherine Crowley pulled around the goalie and put a goal in with only 3 minutes remaining in the half. Once the second half began, pressure was put on immediately and it was up to Madison’s defense, led by sophomore goalie, Nicole Ducey, to defend the lead. And they did just that, with multiple opportunities to even the score, Madison was able to shut them down and maintain the lead. Ducey was a hero to Madison when she was able to defend a penalty stroke, and later in the game, she forced another one wide. In the end, Madison was victorious and they were named the Group 1 Section 2 Champions. This was the Lady Dodger’s third consecutive sectional final.

Looking forward, the Dodgers now are preparing for the Group 1 state semifinal against Newton on Wednesday, November 9th at Boonton High School at 4pm. Newton will be a valiant opponent for Madison, but junior midfielder Sage Geyer believes that “if we work hard enough and play as a unit, will will come out on top.” Throughout the season, the team underwent various changes and tweaks in the lineup before finding just the right one. The current lineup consists of, juniors Caroline Blount, Maddie Stein, and Maddie Farrell at defense, with sophomore Kerri Anne McClay, junior Sage Geyer, and seniors Sarah Timmons and Sydney Fielding at midfield, junior Elizabeth Romano, freshman Margaret Sheeleigh, and senior Catherine Crowley at forward, with sophomore Nicole Ducey tending to the goal. Head Coach Anne Marie Davies has said multiple times that the team is “peaking at the perfect moment.” According to her, everything is falling into place at just the right moment and they “are playing the best hockey they have all season.” If all goes as planned, the Lady Dodgers are planning to succeed in this game and move one to the group finals later in the week.

Should the field hockey team reign victorious on Wednesday, they will advance to the Group 1 state finals on Saturday, November 12th in Bordentown, NJ at 12pm. This will be the Dodgers third consecutive appearance in group finals, and they are the reigning Group 2 champions after defeating Wall High School 5-0 in 2015. If all goes well, the Dodgers hope to take a new Group 1 title and then they will advance to the Tournament of Champions, where they could possibly meet their rivals, the Oak Knoll Royals, who beat them last year in TOC’s semifinal in overtime, after the Royals scored in the last minute of play to tie the game before heading into overtime. Previously this season, Madison faced off against Oak Knoll, and they ended up losing 5-0, however, “the score was not indicative of the game” according to Anne Marie Davies. In this game, the score was 0-0 for the majority of the game, but a small breakdown defensively led to Oak Knoll scoring three back to back goals, and with the momentum, they were able to put in two more, despite the commendable effort given by the Dodgers. Should Madison make it to this point in the season, they will certainly be looking to seek retribution and defeat the Royals.