A league of their own
High hopes for only Shore team
TINTON FALLS - There will be 15 girls ice hockey teams competing across New Jersey this winter, up from 13 teams last season and 11 in the previous year. But there is only one program in the Shore participating in the emerging niche: Trinity Hall.
"Our senior class has six hockey players," said head coach Frankie Francese. "I think only two of them have played at the club level. The other four came in as freshmen, actually three came in as freshmen having never played ice hockey."
That blend of different experience levels, combined with a daunting schedule of practices and games, could be considered an obstacle.
For the Monarchs, it's an opportunity.
Trinity Hall is the only all-girls high school at the Shore and became a member of the Shore Conference in 2015. And players on the hockey team are in a class by themselves, embarking on hockey's new frontier; their commitment level equals or surpasses that of any ice hockey program in the area. To get ice time, the team must hold practices at 6 a.m. every morning. A differentiator is the significant amount of players who not only don't play travel hockey, but also those who had never played ice hockey at any level before joining the team.
"These girls are up before 5 (in the morning) and at the rink by 5:30. That starts building the culture right there," said Francese. "Bus ride trips to go play the North Jersey teams, we take that bus ride as an opportunity to build culture again."
Coming off a 7-10-2 campaign, the efforts to build that culture paid dividends at the end of last season. The Monarchs won their state playoff opener against Chatham before narrowly losing 2-1 to eventual state champ MorristownBeard, which has won both state titles since the NJSIAA first introduced the postseason tournament two years ago. It's those kinds of performances that has Francese optimistic about the coming season.
"If we can get that offensive production out of the players that are on the roster now, I think we have a very strong shot at competing for (state titles)," he said. "We constantly want to gauge where we are in the state of New Jersey with our program. So if you want to do that, you've got to play the best teams."
Defensive foundation key as Trinity looks to replace offensive production
Francese alluded to offensive production being the key question that needs to be answered for Trinity Hall to have a breakthrough season. The Monarchs will need to replace the combined 41 goals of last year's senior forward duo of Alyse Borras and Josie DiFeo. There are only two returning double-digit point scorers from last year's team.
"When you lose goal-scorers who put in 41 of your 62 goals, it's always a pretty significant task to find out who's going to fill those shoes," said Francese. They also lost third-leading scorer Michelle McCabe, bringing the total number of lost goal production to 46 of 62 goals.
"It's kind of like life. You get this opportunity, you want to take it and make the most of it," Francese added. "That's what we're telling our girls; this is your chance."
The team returns two double-digit point scorers in senior Madeline Walker and sophomore Sydney Sun, whose older brother RJ is a standout player for CBA. But Francese expects that producing goals will be a team-wide effort.
"This year, you're not going to see two of our players score two-thirds of our goals," he said. "I think you're gonna see it spread out a lot more."
While the offense will need to be sorted out swiftly in the early part of the season, the Monarchs' defensive identity is expected to be the pillar of their success this season. It starts with sophomore goaltender Katie Cisar, who had .923% save percentage in 17 games last season as a freshman.
"With somebody like Katie Cisar," added Francese. "If you can outshoot the other team, you're always gonna have a chance to win."
Outshooting other teams is a big "if" for Trinity Hall, but there is one breakout candidate that could contribute to achieving that ambition. Freshman Sienna DeAngelis will be operating out of the defenseman spot, but she has the attributes to develop into an elite contributor in all aspects of the game. The team's group of freshmen is another source of optimism on a roster loaded with talented underclassmen.
Still, they need better support in limiting chances for the opposition after being outshot in nearly every game last year. DeAngelis will be key to that along with junior Bridie Fitzgerald.
"Having Katie returning as a sophomore, we know we're going to be strong in our defensive end," said Francese. "We know we've got somebody who can stop the puck, and now we have defenseman who can help her keep the puck out of the dangerous areas and get it out of our zone quickly."
If Trinity Hall sharpens up the defense, it will establish a strong foundation to build upon as the program aims to establish itself as a serious contender.
Expansion and realignment beneficial to Monarchs
The expansion of girls ice hockey to 15 teams is beneficial to Trinity Hall, which had previously been competing in the stronger Librera Division last year. The Monarchs went 0-8-2 against the division last year before mounting a late-season push.
This year, they'll be competing in the Cohen Division at the mid-level of the three divisions. It's a reprieve from having to compete with the likes of Morristown-Beard, Pingry and Immaculate Heart. They still will play single games against the Librera teams as they test themselves against the top competition, but it appears that the Monarchs have settled into the right division given that their program has an interesting blend of accomplished and experienced club players as well as newcomers to the sport.
"To compete at the highest level, you really want to have a team made up of girls who have played at the club level," said Francese. "I mean, that certainly helps."
Within their division, the Monarchs will need to surpass Kent Place and Summit to take the Cohen Cup. Kent Place finished 12-5-1 last season in the division, while Summit joins the Cohen after putting together an impressive 107-2 record last year in the Librera.
"We're gonna ask the girls," Francese said. "What do they think is gonna define us as a team?"
The first chance to establish that identity is against Princeton Day Dec. 8. But for the only girls hockey team in the Shore, there is already a defining identity — they are trailblazers.