Gerzabek's move a great one for Notre Dame

After Notre Dame lost its first three field hockey games of the season, coach Adele Williams decided to shift senior midfielder Katie Gerzabek to center back. It proved to be a good move for the Irish, who wrapped up their fourth straight Inter-Academic League championship and seventh in the eight years last week.

Williams saw Gerzabek as the one to make the Irish offense go as an excellent distributor of the ball. She also knew she had a promising forward in freshman Moira Putsch.

Putsch lived up to that promise by scoring 32 goals for the 16-4 Irish. After losing to Sacred Heart, 2-0, on Sept. 15, Notre Dame went on to win 15 straight.

"Putsch is so composed and so good at finishing, it's unbelievable," Williams said. "And Gerzabek was such a great distributor. Who would have thought we'd finish the way we did after the way we started?"

Putsch, who began playing field hockey in second grade with a CYO team, gives Gerzabek a lot of credit for her success.

"She's awesome at transitioning the ball. She could get the ball out [of the defensive end] and up the field quickly. . . . I'll miss playing with her next season."

Goalie Emily Fuss also had a big hand in the Irish turnaround with nine shutouts.

"We had a whole new defense at the beginning of the season, but we worked through that," Fuss said. "I'm excited about next year."

Players like her style. Katie Whelan's self-described no-nonsense style of coaching has paid off for Shipley. Just ask her players. The Gators recently completed their second straight unbeaten season.

They went 30-0-1 in that span. It might have been 31-0 but they played only one overtime with Episcopal Academy this season after the regulation game ended in a 1-1 tie. They halted the game to get a junior varsity game in.

In the last four seasons, the Friends League champions have posted a 54-4-4 record.

"I'm strict and intense," Whelan said of her coaching style. "I expect players to be on time and ready to go. We hit the weight room out of season and it's paid off. But we do have some fun, too."

Senior midfielders Allison Dombroski and Ellie Andersen will attest to that. They led the Gators in scoring this season with 13 and 11 goals, respectively.

"It was a little crazy this season," Andersen said. "I certainly don't think we expected to go unbeaten this after losing seven seniors. Four of them were starters.

"Toward the end we were beginning to feel the pressure to stay unbeaten," Andersen added.

Can the Gators keep the winning streak going next season?

"Definitely," Dombroski said. "The team is only losing four and there are many new girls."

Among the Gators' returnees will be junior goalie Alex Cones. She had 10 shutouts this season.

More games ahead? Hill School coach Meg Watson would like very much to add some games to her team's schedule but school rules make that a tough task. The Blues compiled a 14-1 record this season while winning the Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship.

Under school policy the Blues play only on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The players have a half-day of classes on those days.

"We also ask transfer students to repeat a year when they come in," Watson pointed out. "A lot of that has to do with maturity."

But those players who have repeated a grade can create eligibility issues when Hill plays PIAA schools. The coach would like to add more PIAA member schools to her schedule.

"We had to sit a few girls in our game with Spring-Ford because of that," Watson noted. "We beat Spring-Ford, 4-1." The Blues also beat Inter-Academic League champ Notre Dame and Episcopal Academy.

Watson has three Division I recruits in Paige Haley, Annie McLaughlin and Nicole Morris. Haley scored two goals Saturday in the Blues' season finale, a 3-0 win over Lawrenceville School.