By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
On X @tortreports
HADDON TOWNSHIP — Emory Shaw knew her Haddon Township High field hockey squad would need to bring as much energy as possible in order to win Thursday’s South Jersey Group 1 playoff contest — and that’s exactly what the Hawks did.
The sophomore midfielder scored the game-winning goal, tipping in a shot from Kenzie Ricci off a corner as third-seeded Haddon Township rallied back from an early deficit to defeat No. 6 Schalick, 2-1, in the sectional quarterfinals.
The Hawks advance and travel to Colonial Conference divisional rival West Deptford, the No. 2 seed, on Monday at 2 p.m. It’s the third time this season the Hawks and Eagles will do battle, and West Deptford has outscored Haddon Township 9-0 in two victories. Monday’s other sectional semifinal features No. 4 Gloucester traveling to Monmouth County power and top-seeded Shore Regional.
“I was really happy. I couldn’t have done it without the rest of my team,” Shaw said of the winning tally against Schalick. “When she shot it, I thought it was going to go in, and then I saw it bounce off the ground. I was really excited and nervous in the moment that it was going in right in front of me.
“I think we worked really hard as a team. Everyone brought the energy today,” she continued. “That really brought us to the win. We passed well, shot well, got the ball in the circle a lot and we worked really well as a unit today.”
The Hawks (14-6, 3-4 Colonial Liberty) fell behind with four minutes left in the first half when Lucianna Virga scored first for Schalick (14-7, 8-0 Tri-County Diamond) on an assist from Ava Scurry. Sofia Nagel tied it up for Haddon Township midway through the third quarter and Shaw notched the winning score with 3:56 left in regulation.
“I’m extremely proud because we do have a record of getting down sometimes after someone scores the first goal, and tonight we did not let that happen,” Haddon Township first-year coach Gina Brown said. “I said to them at the end of the game, ‘it takes so much growth to be able to turn that around, mentally.’ I’m really proud of them.
“It’s a big win, it’s very exciting. Our program hasn’t been here in a couple of years. This is big progress for us and big progress for the program,” Brown continued. “The girls are very excited, and I’m very proud of them. I’ve actually had Emory since she’s been in seventh or eighth grade. She has just made so much progress. She’s a workhorse. She’s one of those players you can literally put anywhere. She never gives up.”
The initial shot from Ricci nearly went in, and Shaw was in the right place at the right time to finish it.
“I knew the corner was coming to me,” Ricci said. “I needed to lock in and hit it as hard as I could. It just hit Emory’s stick, she got it right on the post. We’ve been working on tipping in a lot of the practices. It’s amazing to do this with my friends. We’ve been working so hard throughout this whole season. It really paid off because today was a really hard game. They (Schalick) were really good, and we knew we needed to come out here and play as hard as we could, and we did.”
Haddon Township is riding a five-game winning streak into Monday’s semifinal. Despite two losses to West Deptford earlier this season, the Hawks say they are feeling confident.
“I’m really excited,” Shaw said of the upcoming matchup. “We’ve worked so hard against them. We know their team, and they know us. They were here tonight. We’re really excited to be there.”
WHAT’S NEXT: No. 3 Haddon Township at No. 2 West Deptford, Monday, 2 p.m. in the South Jersey Group 1 semifinals. Schalick’s season is complete.
