Whether it’s the comfort of a home field or a road trip to start the state tournament each team has that dream of weaving its way through the bracket and bringing back a championship.
Notre Dame and Northern Burlington have home games on Wednesday, while Princeton, Steinert, Hopewell Valley and Lawrence take to the highway.
Non-Public A
No. 9 Camden Catholic (7-11) at No. 8 Notre Dame (11-7), 4:30 p.m.
If there was a team that needed a win heading to the state tournament it was Notre Dame.
Reeling from a four-game losing streak, the Irish defeated Mainland, 9-4 ,to snap the skid ahead of the tournament opener against Camden Catholic.
The losing streak was the longest in Bryan Fisher’s 12-year tenure with the Irish.
ND has been battling injuries and will be looking to senior leadership of Amelia Eilbacher, who recently tallied her 100th career goal, Samantha Davis, Emily Javick and Sienna Valentino to set the tone.
Sophomore Reese Parker leads to with 61 goals, Eilbacher has 43 and leads in assists with 33 and sophomore Capri Valentino and junior Ellie Marrone each have 26 goals.
Marrone reached 100 draw controls recently.
Camden Catholic comes in having lost five of seven games, but has been led by freshman Kat Gillern with 62 goals and 22 assists. Gillern also has 106 draw controls.
The winner faces No. 1 Oak Knoll in the quarterfinal round.
North Jersey Group III
No. 11 Princeton (11-8) at No. 6 Montgomery (15-3), 3 p.m.
Several Tigers players have experienced milestones in recent games and now they are looking to pull their talent and get the tournament off to a fast start.
Princeton faced the Cougars a little more than a month ago and suffered a 15-9 loss.
“We are really looking forward to playing them again,’’ said Princeton coach Katie Federico. “We just need to come out ready to play.’’
Riley Devlin is ready to play as the senior recently went over 200 career goals.
“It was an amazing achievement and I’m thankful for my teammates,’’ said Devlin. “It shows that all my hard work has paid off and thanks goes to my team. It really feels good to hit an achievement like that.’’
Quinn Gallagher, a sophomore, reached the 100 point plateau this season and senior Sarah Henderson has 96 career points. Leah Bornstein, who tallied just seven goals as a freshman has caged 52 this season and has been a catalyst for the Tigers success.
Senior Allegra Brennan has been steady in the cage.
Montgomery had its five game winning streak snapped in the Somerset County tournament by Hillsborough.
Chase Long, who has 91 goals, and Elliana Puzzulli, who has 57 goals, each scored five in the Cougars’ win over Princeton.
Montgomery is a young team and the Tigers will need to rely on veteran leadership to advance to face the winner of the No. 3 Northern Highlands and No. 14 Whippany Park.
South Jersey Group III
No. 10 Steinert (12-5) at No. 7 Northern Burlington (11-7) 2:45 p.m.
Steinert has continued to upgrade its schedule to make it more competitive when tournament time rolls around, but the Spartans have a tough draw in a very good Northern team.
This is the first meeting of these two since 2018 when the ‘Hounds claimed a 14-2 victory.
Since a pair of one-goal losses, the Spartans have won three straight and claimed another Patriot Division crown.
The Hardiman twins, seniors Emily and Lauren, led Steinert with 39 and 34 goals, respectively. Emily adds 16 assists.
Senior Brooke Sinay has 25 goals and Gianna Longo has been stellar in the cage for Steinert.
Northern, which played Colts Neck on Tuesday, has four very powerful attack players in junior Karina Harrison (66 goals, 43 assists), sophomore Megan Renninger (58 goals), junior Alexis Koz (58 goals) and junior Jill Watson with 53 goals and 26 assists.
This should be a very interesting tourney opener.
The winner advances to the quarterfinals, facing the winner of No. 2 Shawnee and No. 15 Pennsauken.
South Jersey Group II
No. 11 Hopewell Valley (6-12) at No. 6 Barnegat (13-3), 4 p.m.
Since being mired in a nine-game losing streak Hopewell Valley has played well and gone 4-2 over the last six games.
Junior Gianna Azara has established herself as one of the premier players in the area with 75 goals. Freshman Lacey Mauldin and senior Emily Eschlman had provided some offense assistance with 21 and 17 goals respectively.
Maxxe Rice has been a solid player all over the field for the Bulldogs.
Barnegat was 12-0 on May 2, but has dropped three of the last four games, including two one-goal losses to Southern and Manalapan.
Senior Alyson Sojak is offensive leader for the Tigers with 77 goals and 30 assists. She has 271 career goals. Junior Emilia Ercolino has 34 goals for Barnegat and the defense has been solid allowing under five goals a game.
The winner faces either Manasquan or Lawrence.
No. 14 Lawrence (5-15) at No. 3 Manasquan (11-6), 5 p.m.
This will be a daunting task for the Cardinals as Manasquan is perennially one of the top programs in the state and the Shore Conference.
Lawrence is coming off a win over West Windsor-Plainsboro South and has been led by Charley Korsos, a junior, with 43 goals and 25 assists and senior Hayley Jodoin has 40 goals and 12 assists.
A freshman, Alexis Corigliano has 33 goals and Sophia Uyaguari-Corado has 212 saves for the Cardinals.
Manasquan has six players with over 20 goals and is led by senior Kali Saito with 28 goals and senior Talia Blum has 27 goals and 30 assists.
