Camden Catholic Field Hockey Ends Run with Loss in State Semis

After playing down a goal for nearly 35 minutes, Camden Catholic had one last shot against Central Jersey, Group 2 champ Bishop Eustace in the state Group 2 semifinals Friday night.

With 23 seconds left, Irish junior Tara Vitesse took the ball on a restart from just outside the circle, slipped around a pair of defenders and set up one last, desperation backhand chance.

But the ball sailed high into the night, and with it went Camden Catholic’s last hope of pushing it to overtime in back-to-back games, in a 1-0 loss that ended the team’s run in the state semifinals.

While it was a disappointed team that walked off its home turf, head coach Maureen Nelson said the team’s drive to score a sectional crown and fight for a shot at going to the state finals was admirable.

“They are able to walk away and feel that they gave 110 percent, and that is something should always feel good about,” she said. “Kudos to them…they just turned it up a notch the last couple of weeks.”

While the Crusaders dominated possession for most of the game and rolled up a fierce counterattack whenever Camden Catholic was able to push into the offensive end, the Irish still fought on both sides of the ball to keep it tight.

Despite Eustace’s 11-6 advantage in corners, the defense held every time and limited the Crusaders’ chances otherwise.

But a cross in front of the net with just under five minutes left in the first half led to a goal by the Crusaders’ Montana Fleming, which was ultimately the decisive shot.

The Irish seemed to have caught a break midway through the second half, after Vitesse faked Eustace keeper Alex Pecora into a dive and slipped inside for a chance at tying the game.

Vitesse then appeared to get fouled, and the indication was initially for a penalty stroke—shades of how Vitesse tied the game against Collingswood two days earlier—but after a discussion, the referees called simultaneous fouls and ordered a faceoff, instead.

The Irish would get one more chance late in the half, off a corner with 1:35 to go in the game, but Eustace defenders deflected three shots in a row to end the threat.

Ending the season in the state semifinals after having low expectations coming into the season was fantastic, Nelson said.

“We were predicted to come nowhere near a sectional title…we were kind of in development mode,” she said. “We had a lot of young players who were jumping in…they just assumed the leadership roles.”

From there, it was just a matter of will, and Nelson said the team had been able to harness that through the playoff run, which included a 1-0 victory over perennial contender West Deptford and a 2-2 (3-2) section championship nail-biter of a win against Collingswood.

“They’ve really wanted it—they wanted to get here,” she said.