Irish Grab Group 2 Field Hockey Title in Thriller

Eighty minutes of hockey was not enough to determine a winner between No. 1 Collingswood and No. 3 Camden Catholic in the NJSIAA South Jersey, Group 2 finals, so the game was reduced to goalie vs. shooter.

Thankfully for the Irish, their goalie had one more save in her.

Camden Catholic got three saves from goalie Isabella Dolente to pull out a 2-2 (3-2) win Friday afternoon in Collingswood.

Camden Catholic will take on Bishop Eustace in the state semifinals, Friday.

Tarra Vittese, Alyssa Olenick and Marissa Moreno each scored for the Irish in the shootout, while Shauna LaMaina and Ashley Walters scored for the Panthers, who rebounded from missing their first two attempts to draw within 3-2 entering the final stroke. Ellie O’Neill stepped up and sent a shot toward the corner of the cage, but Dolente dove to her right and pushed the shot wide, sparking a celebration for Camden Catholic.

“Honestly, it was a must, I had to do it,” Dolente said of her third and final save. “It came down to me doing it for my team. I looked at the ball, I looked at her eyes. She was going right; I knew it. I went there and I made the save.”

The loss was hard to swallow for a Panthers' program that was celebrating its 100th season.

“It hurts,” said Collingswood head coach Valerie Dayton said. “We got to this game last year in Central Jersey against the same team and played a much different game (Camden Catholic won 4-0). I am much happier with our performance this time around, but it’s devastating. It’s heartbreaking for them. They worked hard and they wanted this. In their eyes it was their time to get it.”

“Give it up to Collingswood; they played awesome,” said Camden Catholic coach Maureen Nelson. "They came out ready to go, and it was a nail-bitter all the way to the end. It was a great game of hockey all the way around.”

Collingswood looked like it would be the team winning a title when Walters scored off a rebound with one minute, 55 seconds left in regulation to put the Panthers up 2-1.

The lead would last just 26 seconds though, as Camden Catholic was awarded a penalty stroke with 1:29 left after an Irish shot hit a Panthers’ defender who was on the ground in front of the cage. In a sign of things to come, Vittese stepped up and calmly fired a shot into the cage to tie the game.

Both teams had plenty of opportunities in overtime, with the game reduced to a 7-on-7 by rule. Camden Catholic had four straight corners to open the first 10-minute sudden death overtime session, but couldn’t put a shot on target. Collingswood had a couple of good looks late in the second overtime session, but also came up empty.

“I thought my kids did a great job today,” said Dayton. “They came out to play. All season long we talked about not settling and they didn’t settle. Camden Catholic went up a goal, and we could have right then just cashed it in, but they didn’t. They came right back and took the lead. We made a mistake and paid for it, we played to the very end. It came down to the last strike and you can’t ask for more than that.”

Collingswood controlled play for much of the first half, but was unable to produce a goal. Melissa Cunningham sent a shot past Dolente off a corner with 15 minutes left, but the goal was waved off because the shot came from outside the circle and did not touch anyone.

Kelli Connolly gave Camden Catholic a 1-0 lead with 22:56 left in the first, capping of a series of six consecutive corners for the Irish. Collingswood
came back to tie the game when Emily Madden fired home a rebound on a long hit from Melissa Cunningham.

“I think we controlled a good part of the game,” Dayton said. “The first half we had so many opportunities, and unfortunately we didn’t finish. In a big game like this, you have to stick it in when you have the chance.”

When all was said and done one team left feeling the greatest of highs, while the other was left knowing a great season has come to an end.

“I think the girls are really excited and they wanted to show up and do well,” said Nelson. “They will realize later there is a lot of success behind that.”