Rumson-Fair Haven Remains Undefeated As Shore Conference Tournament Approaches

Photo above: Madison Maguire lets one fly in Wednesday’s action

RUMSON – The Bulldogs field hockey team picked up its thirteenth win of the season with one game left to play in its regular season schedule before Shore Conference Tournament games begin this weekend. Rumson-Fair Haven is ranked No.1 in the Shore Conference and seventh in the State and should be awarded the No.1 seed in the SCT.

Junior midfielder Madison Maguire caged three goals for the Bulldogs (13-0-2, 11-0) while freshman center forward Lilly Croddick had two goals and senior center forward and senior captain Payton McCauley added one goal in their 6-0 defeat of Monmouth Regional (5-12-1) Wednesday at Borden Field in Rumson.

Maguire - a University of Maryland recruit - also registered an assist, giving her 28 goals and 11 assists on the year which ranks her 10th in the state in goals scored and second in the Shore Conference – tied with Wall’s Samantha Scire.

“Madison generates an awful lot of offense for us,” Rumson-Fair Haven head coach Julie Vaccarelli said. “She plays both ends of the ball really well and if she does lose the ball she tackles back and wins it right back; she’s a very strong player on both sides of ball and a leader.”

With two and a half minutes gone in the first half Maguire got Rumson on the board to take an early 1-0 lead for the only score they would need in the game.

The Bulldogs did appear a bit flat in the half and struggled to get any consistent offensive flow going as the two teams traded possessions without much action around the cage.

“I think we did come out a little flat today,” Vaccarelli said. “When you’re closing out the regular season that happens, and we warned them about it. We were definitely disappointed with the first half but we came back much stronger in the second half with a sense of urgency which we need going into the post season.”

Croddick’s two goals towards the end of the half gave the Bulldogs a 3-0 halftime lead and pretty much set the stage for the second half of play. Those two goals give the outstanding freshman phenom 18 goals on the year – second on the team.

Monmouth had only two shots on goal in the game and only one real scoring opportunity which came at the 18:30 mark of the first half when Falcons junior forward Natalie Johnson blistered a shot on goal that Bulldog goalkeeper Anna Babiak turned away with an excellent pad save.

The defense, led by Villanova commit and captain Katie Ebner, completely shut down Monmouth’s attack in the second half including five minutes in the half in which they were down a player after a yellow card was called on Croddick. Valuable senior defender Molly Lake also played a solid game in the backfield for the Bulldogs.

McCauley - who played an outstanding all-around game - caged the first goal of the second half at the 24:29 mark and Maguire registered a short-handed goal at 19:42 to give the Bulldogs an in surmountable 4-0 lead.

Maguire finished off the scoring four minutes later to cap off a much improved second-half of play by the Bulldogs.

Rumson was upset in the semifinals of last season’s SCT by Freehold Boro so the Bulldogs aren’t taking anything for grant it in this year’s tournament.

“What we have to be careful of is we can’t just expect to be in the finals,” Vaccarelli said. “We have to work our way there, and there’s a lot of great teams in the Shore Conference. And if we do get into the finals that’s going to be a battle, nothing is going to be handed to us and we need to understand we have to work hard for everything. It’s taking it one game at a time and out-working the other team.”

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