Boggs’ golden goal gives Salem thrilling opening-round playoff victory, Schalick routs South Hunterdon, Woodstown upset in one-goal game
SJ GROUP I FIELD HOCKEY PLAYOFFS
Monday’s First-Round Games
Shore 10, Audubon 1
Salem 1, Florence 0 (OT)
Gloucester 4, Lower Cape May 0
Haddon Heights 1, Haddon Twp. 0
West Deptford 5, Maple Shade 0
Bordentown 4, Gateway 2
Collingswood 1, Woodstown 0
Schalick 11, South Hunterdon 0
Wednesday’s Quarterfinals
(8) Salem at (1) Shore
(5) Gloucester winner at (4) Haddon Heights
(11) Bordentown at (3) West Deptford
(10) Collingswood at (2) Schalick
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SALEM – As soon as her shot settled into the back of the cage ending an intense afternoon of playoff field hockey, Audrey Boggs knew exactly what to do.
Julliana Love sent Boggs on a semi-breakaway late in the first overtime and the Salem junior beat keeper Mackenzie Cucinotta to an open right corner to give the Rams a 1-0 victory over Florence in Monday’s opening round of the South Jersey Group I playoffs.
In a move as choreographed as the goal itself, Boggs then raced over to a group of teammates huddling just outside the 25 and together they did a “Celebration Spin-Around.”
“It’s from the game Wii Sports Bowling and we all thought it would be really funny if we did that,” Boggs said. “When all of us came together were like we’ve got to do this, and we did it. “
The goal came with 3:50 left in the first 7-v-7 overtime. It broke the ice in a game that was typically of an 8-9 matchup in the bracket and looked destined for a shootout with both defenses and keepers turning away good scoring chances from the start. Salem had 16 shots on goal, Florence had 11 corners.
“Whenever I turn them back it always feels good on my part knowing I didn’t let a goal in and it helps my teammates not to let them down,” Rams goalie Ava Rodgers said.
It was Boggs’ fifth goal of the season, but her first since Rams coach Shanna Scott started sliding her forward to give the offense a late-season boost.
“That was the most exciting one, definitely,” Boggs said. “This was the best one for sure, a special one.”
It was Salem’s first win in the opening round of the playoffs since 2021 (Pitman) and second since 2015. The Rams (9-5-1) lost first-round games each of the last two years.
They now travel to top-seeded Shore (21-2) for Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
“The girls worked very hard for this game, they’ve worked very hard this season.,” Scott said. “I’m just so impressed with how well they’ve played this season and how far that they’ve come, because we lost our entire team last year (9 of 11 starters) and they really stepped up.”
SCHALICK 11, SOUTH HUNTERDON 0: It took the unbeaten second-seeded Cougars a little while to get going, but once they got in gear they turned the afternoon into the easy victory everyone expected.
Their 11 goals were a season high. It was their fifth straight win and fourth straight shutout. They’ve won their last five games by a combined score of 43-1.
“It didn’t start out easy; they didn’t score any, but they were down in our end right out of the gate,” Schalick coach Heather Cheesman said. “It took a good five minutes for the girls to finally wake up and then things started rolling.
“We didn’t know what we were walking into with them. They came out a little bit flat. South Hunterdon was bringing it and the girls were like we need to step it up and they did.”
Ava Scurry had two goals and a career-high five assists, giving her 41 goals and 20 assists on the season, reaching 100 scoring points for the season (102) and giving the Cougars their second 20-20 scorer of the year.
Phoebe Alward, the founding member of the 20-20 Club, and Caylen Taylor both had hat tricks, and Luci Virga had a goal and three assists.
“They were deadly in their offensive circle,” Cheesman said. “As soon as they got down there, it was goal after goal after goal and they were working so good together. Some of the goals were really, really pretty. It looked good once they got rolling.”
The Cougars (18-0-1) now host Collingswood, a 1-0 upset winner of Woodstown, in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
COLLINGSWOOD 1, WOODSTOWN 0: Peyton Ryan scored the game’s only goal off a corner at the 5:15 mark of the third quarter on an assist from Cecilia Clark.
Riverview Sports News 