InsIde ThIs Issue SJ PoWER PoLL .....................S2 GAMES To WATCH ..................S2 PLAYER oF THE WEEk .......................... S6
Haddonfield gets revenge, South Jersey championship PAGE S6
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NOVEMBER 13-19, 2019
Irish capture elusive championship After a decade filled with heartbreak and runner-up status, Camden Catholic rolled to the program’s first sectional championship since 2011 By RYAN LAWRENCE Sports Editor
RYAN LAWRENCE/South Jersey Sports Weekly
Camden Catholic seniors Hailey Quicksill, Kaitlyn Cummins, Katie Walsh and Natalie Berry celebrate their first sectional title.
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For some, like the seniors who play regularly on a relatively-young Camden Catholic field hockey team, the journey began three years ago. For others, like freshman standouts Olivia Bent-Cole and Ava Moore, it began a few months ago. But the beginning of molding one of South Jersey’s most competitive teams from contender to champion may have come in August, when coach Mark Vittese penned an email and hit send.
The body of the message was a bunch of numbers. Each had its own significance. “Eight years. More than 15. Eight years. Thirty-four years,” Vittese said, running back through some of the words he sent three months earlier. “Those are all streaks that you need to end.” Five days after ending one streak — beating rival Bishop Eustace in a playoff game for the first time in 15 years, clinching a berth in the sectional championship game — Camden Catholic moved a step closer to ending a 34-year drought without a state title by beating Moorestown Friends 7-0 in the South Jersey Non-Public championship last Wednesday. The sectional title was the first for the Irish since 2011 and just their third in 17 seasons. So when the final whistle was blared on Wednesday, even with a state championship match with Oak Knoll, the top team in the country, on deck for last weekend, Camden Catholic savored the opportunity to raise a trophy. “It’s crazy how long it’s been,” senior Katie Walsh said. “Since beating Eustace, since winning a sectional title, everything. It means so much.” please see IRISH, page S5