Garth’s toughness, dependability helped lead Cedar Creek field hockey program to new heights

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher There was a field hockey game this year between Cedar Creek and Bridgeton. It went into overtime, and the visiting Pirates were awarded a penalty stroke. Hit the shot, win the game. On the road. Under the lights. Pirates coach Linda Brennan selected senior Paige Garth, who has one of the most powerful swings in the Cape-Atlantic League, to take the shot. Garth calmly knocked home the game-winning goal, then seemed to wonder why her teammates were mobbing her, Brennan said. That’s Paige Garth in a nutshell. Just doing her job. No frills. All business. “We’re at Bridgeton, under the lights, tied going into overtime. With the penalty stroke we called Paige up and she just jogged up there like it was no big deal. She doesn’t hesitate, she just puts it in and the bench clears and charges her, but she doesn’t want to be hugged or congratulated. To her she was just doing her job. That’s Paige. She’s so cool. So steady and consistent,” Brennan said. “I said, ‘Paige, do you understand the pressure of that shot?’ And she said, ‘coach Brennan, you know me. Pressure doesn’t bother me.’ And that is her. She’s just every day doing her job. I don’t think she gives herself enough credit for how good she is.” Not only was the goal a game-winner for the Pirates, it also was the first Garth had ever scored in her career. She played most of her career as a defender and didn’t get many scoring opportunities. “My goals (coming into the season) were to try to get a goal, and I’ve done that twice. I’m usually a defender. My first goal was against Bridgeton in overtime on a stroke,” Garth said. “I didn’t feel any pressure. I don’t let it get to me, I just shake it off.” That cool, calm demeanor has resonated throughout the school, said Athletic Director Mike McGhee. Senior Paige Garth was critical to Cedar Creek’s success this season, playing a position that required her to go from defense to offense and back again nearly the entire game. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) “She’s not a big talker. She’s a leader by example and I think the kids feed off that. She’s not the hooting and hollering type of girl, but her presence alone and the way she carries herself means a lot to her peers and to the people in the building,” McGhee said. “She made first-team Cape-Atlantic League this year and I don’t think she even realizes how good she can be. She’s definitely a quiet leader on the field and in the school. The way she carries herself, you can only look up to a kid like that and I think that’s what her peers do, they look up to her. Everyone likes her and the way she carries herself in the hallways, in the classroom and on the field, you’d want your own daughter to be like her.” That level of maturity also has been a steadying force for Garth during the most difficult time in her life. Just after the 2013 graduation, her older brother, Dillon, who was a standout wrestler for the Pirates and recent graduate, was killed in an auto accident while driving to work. He was just 18 years old. “It’s something no parent or sister or sibling ever wants to deal with. She was very close to her brother and I think she played (this season) for her brother,” McGhee said. “They have an extremely close family. He was a very good wrestler for us and it happened right after graduation. I think going through something like that, as much as it tears you down, I’m sure she’s going to build off that somehow, some way. I think she’s finding her way through that process. I’m sure she’s grieving every day, but she’s going to make the best of life. She’s an awesome kid.” “She’s had a tough 15 months, but she doesn’t mope or bring anybody else down. She’s just very private. But she’s solid. I can rely on her every time. She’s 100 percent committed to the team, never misses a day, never misses a practice, she’s never late,” Brennan said. “She talks about her brother, and she’s comfortable talking about that and that has made it easy for everybody else to talk about Dillon. She’s just so rock solid that people gravitate toward Paige. When she scored that goal (against Bridgeton) everybody wanted to take a picture with her. The freshmen go to her like a magnet. She’s very special in a low-key kind of way. She’s a very unique kid.” Led by Garth, the Pirates had their most successful season to date this fall. Just a few seasons old, the program in the past couple of years struggled to even win a game or two. But this year, with Garth’s fierce competitiveness and powerful swing leading the charge, the Pirates posted seven wins and earned a berth in the South Jersey Group 2 playoffs, where as the No. 9 seed they nearly upset No. 8 Highland before falling 2-1. “We did better than we had in the last couple of years. We worked so hard together as a team,” Garth said. “The seniors this year, we’ve seen the program develop into what it’s becoming. We’re trying to make a name for ourselves and say, hey, Cedar Creek is a brand new school but the team is getting better.” Garth’s experience in organized sports mainly came in softball before she entered Cedar Creek. She’s been a varsity player for the Pirates’ softball team the past two years. She admits that when she first started playing field hockey she didn’t know much about the game. “It was kind of weird because in ice hockey you’re allowed to use both sides of the stick, so in field hockey I thought you were allowed to use both sides. I thought, OK, this is going to be hard to get used to,” Garth said. “But I feel like now field hockey is my main sport. I didn’t think I would like it at first, but since I’ve been playing it, I’ve fallen in love with it over the past year because it was something that could take me away from what was going on.” “Toward the middle of last year we started having her be the roving defender, which means she has to cover the whole field. And this year she had a breakout year. She knows her abilities and she used them to her advantage,” Brennan said. But Brennan said the most difficult part of replacing Garth, who hopes to pursue a career as a radiologist after graduating in 2015, next season won’t be between the lines. Rather, it will be trying to replace that calming presence that Garth brought to the team and the way she cares about her teammates without them even realizing the extent to which she does. “She kind of tends to people in a very unobtrusive way. Like, if somebody leaves their stick on the field she’ll pick it up and get it back to them. She knows everybody’s little idiosyncrasies and she respects that,” Brennan said. “Sometimes people have superstitions before a game and she knows what they are. If somebody forgets something she will remind them, but she does it in such a cool, subtle way that people don’t even realize she’s doing that. “It might sound like she’s very maternal, but she’s not. She doesn’t like to be hugged or anything, but she’s always paying attention. If somebody is having a bad day she will do something to cheer them up.” That’s just Paige. Rock solid. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]