By RICH FISHER
Contributing Editor
Upon entering an athletic season, coaches often set goals like winning a county title, reaching the state finals and things of that nature.
Cheryl Harris’ aim was a bit different.
“I wanted to get a starting lineup,” the Notre Dame, Lawrenceville field hockey coach said. “I wanted to get a goalie. I wanted to get a defense. Right now, we’re baby steps. I’m happy to go game-by-game and so far, it’s working.”
The Irish have baby-stepped their way to a 4-0 start entering a Sep. 20 contest at Hopewell Valley. They have done it with an experienced offense, an inexperienced defense and a strong faith among themselves.
“The majority of them I see at Catholic Athletes for Christ,” Harris said. “They display a Christian attitude by the way they play and support each other. The way they care for each other is a perfect family atmosphere and that’s what this school is about.”
That mindset starts with senior captains Ellie Marrone, Marie Conway and Kayla Delehanty and permeates throughout the team.
“The captains have been very fair and very motivating,” Harris said. “They all work hard; it shows on the field.”
Marrone, one of the Colonial Valley Conference’s top players, centers a forward line between junior Emma McVey (5 goals) and senior Elana Ruppersberger. Marrone leads ND with eight goals and five assists, and could have had another goal were she selfish.
Notre Dame field hockey coach Cheryl Harris has reason to smile this year as her team is 4-0 and on Sep. 13 she won her 50th career game as the Irish defeated perennial power Princeton for the first time in her seven years as head coach. Rich Fisher photo
“Against Princeton we gave her Emma McVey’s goal, and the second she saw that on the scoresheet she immediately reached out and said ‘I only scored two, Emma scored one,’” Harris said. “She’s that type of player. She’s after the win, not the stats. She also plays basketball and lacrosse and she’s phenomenal in all sports. That girl sprints back and forth the entire 60 minutes and you’d never know she’s tired.”
Marrone sacrificed playing up front last season because ND needed a center-midfielder and still scored 11 goals. She was able to move back to her natural forward position, thanks to sophomore Tori Suschke moving into center-mid.
“She’s just a great player in the middle,” Harris said of Suschke. “We have (senior) Marie Conway at the left mid and she always does wonderful there and (junior) Clementine Bowden is at the right mid to give us a solid midfield forward line.”
The defensive midfielder is Delehanty, “who is strong and can run all day.”
The youth is in the back as ND has four sophomores playing new positions. Defending from left to right are Katie Brown, Adria Durkin and Grace Marrone (Ellie’s sister), while Adriana Tattoli is in goal.
“We recruited a whole sophomore line on defense,” Harris said. “I don’t think they typically were defensive players, but we needed them there so they stepped up. We turned them into defensive players, they get big sends. And our goalie just stepped into the position a month ago.”
Tattoli was a forward who knew ND needed a goalie when their former keeper transferred.
“She’s working hard and has stopped everything she’s supposed to stop, so we’re really happy with her,” Harris said.
The coach is also happy with averaging nearly five goals per game.
“I said at the start that all we have to do is outscore the other team,” Harris said. “We have the goal scorers. So far that’s what we’ve been doing.”
ND defeated Pennington, Princeton, Steinert and Allentown by a combined 19-8. The victory over Princeton was Harris’ 50th career win, and it marked the first time in her seven years as head coach the Irish defeated the Little Tigers.
But her team knew nothing about that.
“We didn’t say anything, we don’t want to jinx anything,” Harris said with a laugh. “Near the end of the Princeton game my assistant Carlee (Schrock) said ‘You know this is gonna be numeral 50,’ and I said ‘Shhhhh!’”
But Harris doesn’t mind talking about how her mix of veterans and newcomers have been meshing.
“I knew we would gel because we had a lot of young kids who had been playing together for several years,” she said. “I was very impressed in the preseason when a few of our underclassmen starters came back in tip-top shape and faster than last year and their stickwork has improved.
“Our starting lineup was figured out the day before our first game,” she continued. “The good thing is they pass to each other, they trust each other and they listen to each other.”