One shining moment among many

Of course, nobody will be able to mention Shawnee's 2010 season without the 7-6 win over Moorestown in the South Jersey Group 3 championship that snapped the Quakers' nearly 11-year win streak against New Jersey teams.

Yet lost in Shawnee's 20-2 season were many wins over other quality teams. Besides winning the South Jersey title, Shawnee also went 10-0 in earning the Olympic Conference Patriot Division.

That meant two regular season wins each over two teams in the division that would finish in the final Inquirer South Jersey Top 10 - No. 5 Clearview and No. 8 Seneca. Plus there was another 15-13 victory over Clearview in the playoffs.

Shawnee also beat No. 6 Lenape and No. 10 Holy Cross.

In addition there was also a 9-7 win over eventual state Group 2 champion Chatham.

After losing, 9-8, to eventual South Jersey Group 4 champion Cherokee, Shawnee won 11 in a row until a 12-6 loss to Mendham in the state Group 3 championship game.

Besides the fact that only two seniors started in the state final against Mendham, what made Shawnee stand out was its balance.

Inquirer first-team all-South Jersey sophomore attack Nicole Troost led the team in scoring with 73 goals and 22 assists. Six other players had 30 or more goals - Kristin Kocher (51), Karlee Dean (45), Becky Stiles (42), Alexis Newman (41), Marina Mestres (33) and Kristin Mutch (32), the only senior in this group.

Junior Kierstan Smith was the defensive leader while junior Alex Zaugra was an Inquirer second-team all-South Jersey goalie.

So this is a relatively young Shawnee team that as usual will be expected to contend for multiple titles next year after earning two championships and The Inquirer's No. 1 South Jersey ranking this season.