Madison Field Hockey Pushing for Championship Season

The Madison High School varsity field hockey team is looking to carry over their strong performance from a year ago and apply it to this year's run for a state championship. A familiar face—head coach Ann Marie Davies—leads the Lady Dodgers into their first game Saturday against Hunterdon Central Regional High School. 

The Dodgers finished the 2010 season with a record of 13-5-1 and won the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) championship. In regular season play, Madison beat Chatham on both occasions they matched up. But in the post-season, it was Chatham that foiled its arch-rival in both the county and state tournaments.

“We lost the same way to the same team to get knocked out of both tournaments. We lost to Chatham in single and double overtime from a corner. Heartbreaking,” Davies said.

With a strong core of players returning, Madison hopes to go all the way and bring home the hardware.

COACH’S TAKE:

“We are young on the attack, we’ve lost some [attack] from last year. We are going to be strong defensively, but we are going to have to work on our offense and finishing plays. I think we are going to be strong in the conference, I think the conference championship is definitely a possibility. We are going to be very competitive, but we are going to have to earn our wins.” – Coach Ann Marie Davies

CAPTAIN’S CORNER:

“Losing Mackenzie Ellis in the right-back position from last year leaves a big void on our team. She was both an offensive and defensive player and was able to make fantastic tackles and also had a high scoring average. Alli Helwig was also one of our top offenses and losing her hurts a lot, too. Madison’s program has always been one of offensive strength in the past, but now we are more of a defensive team. We are rebuilding the offense and we are training our midfielders and forwards to put the ball in the net.” – Captain Elizabeth Lehmann

WHO TO WATCH FOR:

--Tori Ellis (sweeper) - Selected Second Team NJAC All-Conference, Ellis is becoming "one of the strongest, if not the strongest player we have," according to Lehmann.

--Caroline McCabe (goalkeeper) - Having already committed to the University of Richmond, McCabe was also named Second Team All-Conference. With extensive work in the off-season, complemented by extra in-season workouts, she is going to be an exciting netminder.

--Maggie Dalena (left back) - A First Team All-NJAC selection in 2010, Dalena is a stout defender. She is also being worked in the midfielder position so the team can better utilize her speed and strength.

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