There have been a lot of great players come through the Ocean City High School field hockey program in the last couple of decades, as the Red Raiders have established themselves as one of the premier teams in South Jersey.
One player who has flown under the radar a little bit during her career is current senior midfielder Rialee Allen. Through her first couple of years she played more of a supporting role, offensively, as players such as Kelly Hanna, Leah Davies and Jordan Allegretto led the team in scoring. But last year, Allen came into her own and scored a team-high 38 goals while leading the Red Raiders to another South Jersey Group 3 championship and another berth in the Group 3 state championship game.
Last week, Allen scored her 93rd career goal to become the school’s all-time scoring leader, and for that accomplishment she is the Bunting Family Pharmacy Athlete of the Week.
With Allen leading the way with a state-best 27 goals this year, the Red Raiders are having one of their best seasons ever. They are off to an 11-1 start, with their only loss coming at the hands of West Essex, which has moved up to No. 2 in the state, according to nj.com. Ocean City moved up to No. 4 after beating then-second ranked Oak Knoll, 3-2, on Oct. 1. The Red Raiders followed that up with a 4-0 win over Mainland and back-to-back 9-0 wins over Atlantic City and Absegami.
During that four-game stretch, Allen scored seven goals and dished out three assists. With three goals against Mainland, Allen passed Colleen Slaughter’s record of 92 career goals to become the school’s all-time goal-scoring leader. She’s also the all-time leader in assists. She comes into this week needing just one goal to reach 100 in her career.

— Dave O’Sullivan, Publisher