Phil Anastasia: Eustace takes field hockey loss in stride

TOMS RIVER, N.J. - Somewhere, "No Woman, No Cry" was playing as the Bishop Eustace field hockey team huddled for the final time.

That could have been the Crusaders' theme song, and not just because they walked off the field with their heads high and their eyes dry after yesterday's 3-0 loss to West Essex in the Group 2 state championship game.

Coach Krissy Holak calls the Crusaders "a Bob Marley team," though the players' musical tastes run to rock and rap, and there's not a Rastafarian on the roster.

But they're mellow, mon, using a laid-back attitude to ease pregame pressure and temper postgame emotion.

"Coach says we're so chill," Bishop Eustace senior midfielder Kendall Kreisl said. "We're not the kind of team that's going to be banging our sticks on the window of the bus. We just go play."

The Crusaders can "Stir It Up" once they hit the field, and they took the game to West Essex in the first half on a cold, windy afternoon at Toms River East.

But despite six corners and a couple of excellent chances, fans hoping to see Bishop Eustace take the lead were "Waiting In Vain."

"I thought we controlled the first half, but we didn't execute," Holak said after her team finished with a 20-3 record. "They controlled the second half and they executed. That was the difference in the game.

"But we had a lot of great opportunities in the first half. If we convert one or two of them, it's a different game."

West Essex, which improved to 21-1-1 and won its fourth consecutive Group 2 state title, found its footing in the second half, and Bishop Eustace couldn't "Stop That Train."

Kreisl said the season was one long "Redemption Song" for a team that made the state final in 2006 but fell short of its goals last season.

"Nobody expected us to be here, but we knew we could do it," Kreisl said. "We have to be happy with the way the season went. We won our conference, we beat Shawnee, we were ranked No. 3 in South Jersey.

"We thought it was awesome just to get here. We wanted to win, but there was no pressure on us."

The Crusaders were right in character to the last whistle of the season, and beyond. Holak said her team hardly celebrated its Olympic Conference National Division title, nor its Central Jersey Group 2 title, nor its impressive victory over Haddonfield in the state semifinals - partly because of the girls' easygoing approach, and partly because they always were looking ahead.

"We had to tell them, 'Girls, you just won a championship,' " Holak said. "They would be like, 'We've got more field hockey to play."

Senior forward Jessica Weldon said the Crusaders' "Mellow Mood" was consistent from the beginning of the season until the end.

"We would just walk off the field and know we had another game to play," Weldon said.

Yesterday was different in two ways. For one, the Crusaders lost. For another, when they walked off the field, it was for the last time.

There was no more field hockey to play. But nobody was going to change, or rearrange, this team.

"I couldn't be prouder of them," Holak said.

In other words, everything's going to be all right.

Bishop Eustace 0 0 - 0

West Essex 0 3 - 3

Goals: WE-Breada Farrell, Heather Barretta, Alison Cassera. Saves: BE-Vicki Lavell, 4. WE-Noell Gomez, 6.