He Phillipsburg Field Hockey Team entered the NJSIAA North Group 4 tournament with an 8-12-1 record, its lowest win total heading into the postseason since 2019.

The same grueling schedule that made the Stateliners a 10th seed in the sectional tournament also prepared them more for a losing streak.

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Phillipsburg has won three straight on the road, the last of which was a 1-0 victory against third seeded team. Mount Olive Monday afternoon in the Group 4 North semifinals, to reach the sectional final.

The Stateliners will travel to top-seeded Montclair, which beat fourth-seeded Ridge 4-2 in the other semifinal, in the Group 4 North championship at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

The Marauders finished the season 20-3.

“It’s fantastic, we’re all very excited,” Phillipsburg coach Rachel Phillips said. “We worked hard at the beginning of the season to prepare for this exact circumstance. We had a really tough schedule, so 10th place doesn’t reflect our ability.”

“It was a difficult season, but in the end it was worth it because now we are going to the final. It’s great,” said Phillipsburg junior Brooke Beenders. “…We knew we could beat them because we’ve been preparing all season for something like this.”

The Stateliners failed to survive their latest upset, at least according to the seeding, as they dominated possession for the first 50 minutes. Mount Olive failed to get a shot on goal and its only two penalty corners were a pair of mistimed corners late in the fourth quarter.

As much as the Stateliners controlled the game, they only took the lead after each of their seven corner kicks came and went without a goal on the last of their 11 shots on goal.

“We played hard with our effort, it was always 100%. “Sometimes we just focus on the wrong things, we could have been a little more efficient with our effort,” Phillips said. “Our main goal was to finish in the cage. We were dominating possession, we had the ball in our offensive 50 for 75% of the game, but more will be needed on Wednesday.”

A quick move down the left side of the P’burg attack resulted in a shot that Mount Olive attempted to clear but Beenders regained possession on the edge of the shooting circle.

Beenders fired a low shot that sailed past several sticks and players and found the corner of the cage to the right of Mount Olive senior goalkeeper Mia Zebi.

“I was making sure I contained my space to make sure that if the ball came out, someone was there to pick it up. As soon as they cleared it, it was open, and I grabbed the ball and shot as fast as I could before the defenders could move forward,” Beenders said. “The feeling afterwards is great, the whole team came together. “That’s what we worked on for this game, to get a goal and a victory.”

Phillips was happy to see the Stateliners score from a little further from the cage than usual.

“Brooke took an incredible step, read that play very well and was able to make a shot from the top of the circle,” the first-year head coach said. “Many of our goals have been braver, on the pads and in the post. Just taking a shot from the top of the circle is a really nice goal.”

“I shot as soon as I saw an open corner and that’s where it went,” Beenders added. “Fortunately, no one else put a stick on him, so he went straight in.”

The Marauders played their best in the moments after conceding the goal, eventually drawing a corner when leading scorer Kylie Tessier struggled to get a shot off directly in front of the cage with less than a minute remaining.

Tessier, a senior, scored both out-of-time corners for Mount Olive, but P’burg sealed the victory when he successfully cleared the second one outside the shooting circle.

The Stateliners, who lost in the Group 4 North semifinals last year and came up short in the 2022 final, won their first sectional title since 1999 in 2021.

“I definitely saw that confidence. Our team is something special,” Phillips said of his team’s run to the finals. “Everyone gets along very well, without drama or anything. “To be able to go this far and keep them together as long as possible is really special.”

“It would mean everything to this team,” Beenders said. “…This is all we want and we have our only senior on the team (Sophia Remian). We’re really doing it for her. “We are beyond excited about this and we know we can win.”

Phillipsburg last played Montclair, which is ranked sixth in the state by NJ.comin sectional semifinals in 2021.

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You can contact Desmond Boyle at [email protected].