Plymouth Whitemarsh – led by the team’s four seniors – captured it sixth consecutive SOL American Conference title.
Winning and winning a whole lot is something the four seniors on this year’s Plymouth Whitemarsh squad know a whole lot about. Jen Byrne, Megan DiGiacomo, Kennedy Reardon and Sam Spera have lost just once in SOL American Conference play since they set foot on the field as freshmen.
During their four-year careers, the Colonials have won 53 conference games – 51 in a row since falling to Wissahickon on Sept. 16, 2015. Talk to them about their hockey experience, and they don’t mention the wins or the four straight conference crowns they’ve won (the program has won six straight).
“PW field hockey isn’t just about winning,” Reardon said. “It’s about building us up to be strong women. We’re just all supportive of each other. This is literally my second family.”
“As a team, we’re like a family,” Spera said. “It’s kind of like a sisterhood.
“Everyone gets along with everyone. There are no cliques or exclusions. Everyone is together, and we all get along.”
That camaraderie doesn’t just happen on a squad with plenty of underclassmen.
“During the preseason, we do a Fun Friday event – we do things like scavenger hunts,” Spera said. “Before every game day, we all try to dress up the same.”
“To build our relationship and team bonding, it’s important we all talk and hang out because our team is young, and we haven’t been together that long,” Reardon said. “We talk every day. We ask each other if anyone needs help.
“We do team events – we’ll watch the Eagles together or have team dinners. It’s a lot of fun.”
That’s not to say they don’t enjoy winning – they do.
“Obviously, we love winning,” Reardon said. “It’s super fun.
“It’s a great goal to strive for future teams, so they have something to work hard for. We just want to keep this atmosphere of winning PW field hockey alive.”
“We want to keep the tradition going,” Spera said. “We encouraged players to come to summer practices and training.
“We pushed each other during the preseason, and we did everything we could to keep the team intensity up.”
They admit there’s pressure involved in maintaining the high standards that have been set.
“I think as a senior class we took it on pretty well because the seniors before us showed us what it’s about, how it is, so we have to keep up that front too,” Reardon said.
“We really take a lot of pride in our team,” Spera said. “We like to keep the team spirit up. It’s not like there are only five people who are really spirited – it’s the whole team.
“Everyone hypes each other up. We like to play, as our coach says, PW hockey – high intensity, quick with the ball. We have a lot of young starters on our team, and they’ve transitioned really well this season by keeping up to the pace of the game. When we go to play more challenging teams, we want to make sure that we’re continuing to push ourselves and keeping the intensity up.”
Mention the four seniors to coach Charise Halteman, and she admits she can’t say enough about them.
“They each take a great deal of pride in this program, and it is evident in the way they play and train,” the Colonials’ coach said. “They provide vocal leadership for us on the field and are also the first individuals ready to practice each day. This group impresses me because they take care of the small details and hold themselves and their teammates accountable for meeting the high standards of the program.
“At the same time, they are a group who loves to have fun; there is never a dull moment at practice with this group. They have been a joy to coach over the past four years as they love the game of field hockey and strive to be better players and students of the game. They truly represent the best of PW.”
According to Halteman, the Colonials’ success this season goes hand in hand with the leadership provided by the senior class.
“ Our seniors hold key positions in our midfield and backfield, and from those positions, they provide a great deal of vocal leadership and encouragement to their teammates,” the Colonials’ coach said. “They play at such a high level, that the rest of the team is ‘forced’ to play at a higher level.”
It also doesn’t hurt that Colonials – who have outscored conference opponents 74-4 through 12 league games – have quite a few players capable of creating offensive opportunities. Sophomore Ava Borkowski leads the teams with 23 goals and seven assists, but Reardon, Spera and Kaleigh Missimer have also scored in double digits this season.
“The team has also been successful because they are never satisfied,” Halteman said. “They are always striving to get better and play a full 60-minute game at the highest possible level.
“We don't usually have to spend a lot of time talking about the basics; we focus on more advanced concepts and strategies, which makes each game a new challenge.”
With their sights set on a successful postseason run, the seniors hope they have a lot of field hockey left this season, but there’s no mistaking their high school careers are coming down the home stretch.
“All four years have been such a great experience for me,” Reardon said. “These four years flew by.
“I think it’s really awesome that we all work together as a team. Our team chemistry helps so much when we’re playing just because it’s easier to read the field and pass the ball to your teammates. When you’re able to play as a team, it totally changes the game.”
SOL teams make final push for districts
With the District One Tournament scheduled to begin next Monday, the playoff picture is becoming clearer, but plenty of questions remain to be answered.
Central Bucks East, the top seed in Class 3A for the better part of the season, was perfect in SOL Continental Conference play (12-0) and closed out its regular season with a 17-1 record. Perk Valley (18-0) is the second seed with Haverford third.
With two regular season games remaining, Plymouth Whitemarsh is fourth. Heading into the final week, Souderton holds down the eighth seed but Neshaminy is not far behind at nine. The top eight seeds receive opening round byes.
Also in the field of 24 are Central Bucks South (12), Abington (15), Council Rock North (17), Pennridge (21) and Council Rock South (20). With four wins and a tie with CB South in its last five games, North Penn has made a final push to make the field and enters the final week of the season in the 24th and final seed. Not far behind are Pennsbury (25) and Central Bucks West (26).
In Class 2A, Wissahickon is seeded eighth and Upper Dublin is 12th. Upper Moreland is 18th in what will be a 16-team field.
In Class 1A, Springfield Township is seeded third.
If districts began Tuesday, 13 SOL teams would advance to the postseason.
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