Season Preview: Briarcliff HS Field Hockey

Last year 's field hockey team had a dream season, as it won the Section 1 Class C crown on the way to making it to the state semifinals.

This year, the Bears will be defending that crown with a new head coach and—with few exceptions—a new starting lineup.

That coach is Danielle Fiore, who was a state MVP forward while playing for a Lakeland Hornets squad that won the state crown in her senior year in the fall of 2003.

She is no stranger to the Bears, however, as she has been an assistant coach at Briarcliff to longtime head coach Kelly Adams the last two years before Adams retired.

Her relationship with Adams goes well beyond that though as in high school she was for two summers a member of the Hudson Valley Empire State Games Field hockey squad that Adams was an assistant coach for.

The head coach of that team was Sharon Sarsen, who Fiore played for at Lakeland.

Fiore will be coaching a team that lost nine starters due to graduation.

The Bears do though have three starters returning from their championship squad in senior midfielder Kristiana Roth, senior forward Rebecca Bianco and sophomore defender Juliana Radovanovich.

“Kristiana has the ability to spread the field and take control of the game for us,” Fiore said. “Her ability to do that will be very big for us this season.”

Fiore said that Bianco plays a very important role on the Bears because of her speed.

“She is very fast and she is able to use her speed to create scoring opportunities for us,” Fiore said.

Fiore said that she thought for Radovanovich to be able to start on last year’s squad as a freshman was an invaluable experience for her.

“She has a lot to draw upon,” Fiore said. “It wasn’t just her talent but also her confidence in her abilities that allowed her to start on such a talented team as a freshman.”

A key newcomer to the starting lineup this year is senior Jenny Yang, who did play on last year’s squad as a key reserve. Yang’s versatility will be an important component in the Bears’ lineup this fall.

“Jenny can play anywhere on the field,” Fiore said. “She can adapt to any situation and that will be a big help for us.”

Another important reserve on last year’s team was junior forward Hanna Wexler and she is expected to provide plenty of offense to the starting lineup this year according to Fiore.

What will also be a help for Briarcliff is having a squad that is ready to accept the challenge of keeping up the standards set by the teams in the past.

“We have a young team so the challenge will be to keep up the high standards we have,” Fiore said. “However, with the talent that we have on this team and the work ethic of the players, I can confident we will keep those standards up.”

Fiore, 24, said because Briarcliff has had such a successful program, she won’t look to make any fundamentally changes to it.

“I am just looking to put my stamp on it,” Fiore said.

Fiore, a senior at Mercy College who is looking to become a kindergarten teacher, said that she has always wanted to coach field hockey since she was in high school at Lakeland.

“I figured since I wanted to teach as well, it was just the perfect fit,” Fiore said.

Fiore said that playing for Sarsen, winner of five state titles, was an invaluable experience and a big influence in her going into coaching.

“It was a huge advantage to be able to play for her in high school,” Fiore said. “She not only cares about what you do on the field, she is also concerned about what you do off it. To this day, we talk and we are still friends.”

Briarcliff opens the season at Rye 4:15 p.m. on Sept. 8.