Holmdel Freshman girls play in the Toms River JV Tournament

Holmdel's Freshman and Junior Varsity team combined to play in the Toms River, NJ JV Field Hockey Tournament. The game was scheduled for 1:30 PM on Saturday October 27. The weather was not cooperating since it rained hard all morning. I was suprised that the matches were not cancelled. My daughter had to be dropped off at Holmdel High School at 11:30 AM. It was still raining hard when I dropped her off.

Toms River is about 35 miles south of Holmdel. It is located off of Parkway Exit 88. (Yes, it is true that everything is an exit number in New Jersey) I mapped to the wrong school and I needed to ask for directions twice. I expected to miss the first half but the earlier games were delayed. I got to the field just as the team was warming up as Welcome to the Jungle played on the loudspeaker system. Holmdel's opponent was Notre Dame Catholic High School.

The game was played on the Toms River East High School turf field. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. The field was lined for multiple sports and both teams had difficulty finding the right out of bounds markings. I know it was difficult to tell from the stands. The ref was always correcting the players. Also, the Holmdel players had not spent a lot of time playing on turf and tried to drive the ball the same way they do on grass. It took most of the game before they were able to adjust.

Notre Dame dominated play in the first half but were unable to score because of the superior play of Holmdel's goalie. She had a great game and left Notre Dame frustrated at what should have been sure goals.

Notre Dame did put the ball in the goal during the first half. However, the score was waved off by the refs because the ball had been kicked. The Notre Dame coach had some issues with the call and made it known from the bench. As the Notre Dame players on the bench chimed in the ref stopped play to reprimand the coach and the players. The coach apologised and took the blame for his players by stating that they were just following his lead. The Notre Dame coach had a big booming voice and it was easy to hear him in the stands. It was obvious that he as passionate about the game and was constantly calling out instructions for his players. Even though he had more issues with some of the calls he learned to bite his tongue for the rest of the game.

The second half of the game was much more even sided. The game was played on the whole field and Holmdel was also starting to get more opportunities at scoring a goal. However, Notre Dame's defense also stepped up and held Holmdel scoreless.

The score at the end of regulation was 0 to 0. This was followed by a 10 minute sudden death overtime period. The Holmdel players were starting to wear out and Notre Dame was able to score about 3 minutes into the period. This ended Holmdel's season.

I did not bring my camera to the game because it was raining so hard I figured that I would not get any good shoots. Now I wish I had.

I enjoyed watching the Holmdel Freshman girls play field hockey this year. I am looking forward to next year when they all move up to Junior Varsity. The girls all seemed to have fun and really enjoyed the competition. The coach Ms. Hoffman did a great job with them.