Smith’s six goals power Florence

Lexi Smith feasted on host Maple Shade on Wednesday and Florence finished with an 8-3 victory in a Burlington County League Freedom Division field hockey game.

Smith, a sophomore center forward, scored a half-dozen goals against the Wildcats' young defense, the most she has scored in one game this season. Added to the 31 goals she had entering the game, Smith left with 37 and leads South Jersey in scoring.

"It's great," Smith said when asked about her achievement. "Last year, Kelsey Mitchell [of Eastern] led the area with 69 goals. That's a big number, and I'd be absolutely amazed if I scored that many."

With three regular-season games and the playoffs remaining, Smith could get close; however, a more realistic number might be the 46 goals that her aunt Diane Carey scored in 1992, to set the school's single-season scoring record.

Florence improved to 13-1 overall and 10-0 in the division. Maple Shade slipped to 7-4, 6-3.

"We're definitely playoff-ready," Smith said. "We have improved drastically since the preseason."

Smith was surprised that Maple Shade coach Shayne Gismonde decided to forego marking her with a designated player or players. When the two teams met at Florence on Sept. 24, a player marked her and she scored only once; however, Kristen Tully scored a hat trick and Florence won, 6-0.

"I'm going to take the blame for that," Gismonde said about not marking Smith. "Last game, we marked Lexi full field. It worked in the first half. In the second half, not so much as a team because they scored five goals.

"This game, I chose to play our normal positions because we have been playing very well as a unit, so I thought they would be more confident that way."

On assists by Sarah Muchowski, Smith scored the first two goals within the first 21 minutes, 20 seconds of the first half for a 2-0 lead. But then sophomore midfielder April Fisher, the Wildcats' best overall player, was called for a tripping penalty and sat for five minutes.

During that span, while Maple Shade was a player down, Menissa Blackwell and Kristin Tully scored for a 4-0 lead. Smith followed with her third goal to make it 5-0; however, senior forward Jaclyn Reader scored on a rebound to cut Florence's lead to 5-1 by intermission.

"I think it was very important," Reader said about Maple Shade's first goal. "Our team, the way we work, once we score, we have that spark and it leads us to wanting more and more. So it was really important to start that off."

Fisher and sophomore midfielder Lizzy Kerr pumped in the next two goals for Maple Shade, and Smith scored three more times in the second half.

Florence   5 3 – 8

Maple Shade   1 2 – 3

Goals: F–Lexi Smith 6, Menissa Blackwell, Kristin Tully; MS–Jaclyn Reader, April Fisher, Lizzy Kerr.

Saves: F–Kate Reed 8; MS–Jamie Bennett 8, Brittney Harple 2.