Vittese shows a deft touch for the Irish

Tara Vittese has a special antique in her garage.

It's a field hockey stick that her mother, Patricia (née Kennedy) Vittese, used as a center forward on the Delaware Valley Regional High School team in 1978. And it's one reason why Tara and her two older sisters, Michelle and Carissa, started playing the sport as children.

"I probably hit a few balls with them" when they were very young, Patricia Vittese said. "I always expressed my love of the game to them."

The old stick is not made of graphite, fiberglass or Kevlar, as today's models are, and is heavier and not as streamlined. It's made of mulberry wood.

"When I walked into my garage and I saw this stick before I started playing field hockey and I was 10 years old, the first thing that came to my mind was, wow, I couldn't play with this," Tara Vittese said.

"My stick is different. You can tell by the [more pronounced] curve. It's definitely easier and lighter to play with."

Vittese compared the sticks on a sideline of Camden Catholic's artificial turf after the Irish beat Paul VI, 6-0, Thursday in an Olympic Conference National Division game.

During the matchup, the sophomore showed how handy she is with her stick, scoring three goals to boost her season total to 15 after only five games. Last season, the center forward/midfielder scored 25 goals in her first varsity season.

An ice pack sat on her left thigh until 19 minutes, 46 seconds remained in the first half and the Irish (4-1 overall, 1-1 division) led, 2-0. The Eagles are 2-3 and 2-1.

It took Vittese 32 seconds to score her first goal, a shot in traffic in front of the net.

"I didn't think I was going to get into the game because I tore part of my groin," Vittese said.

After the match, Paul VI coach Shannon Enders shook Vittese's hand to congratulate her on a game well played.

"She's an amazing player," Enders said. "She has really nice skills. She has command of the ball and good sportsmanship."

Patricia Vittese said that although she made her three daughters aware of the sport at an early age, it was a gym teacher at Haddonfield Friends who introduced them to field hockey in fourth or fifth grade.

That teacher, Joann Rall, an assistant coach at Camden Catholic, remembers the sisters well.

"Tara Vittese is the third of three sisters who started playing roller hockey in kindergarten," Rall said. "I converted them to field hockey when they all reached fifth grade.

"Tara probably has the most speed of the three, and her skill level is high. And she has not reached her level of potential yet. She will supersede her sisters."

That's saying something because Michelle, 21, and Carissa, 19, have played for the University of Virginia.

Tara Vittese is tall (5-foot-10) and fast with good stick work. The 15-year-old also has had vast experience.

Vittese has a two-page resume that lists her affiliations with Futures Elite, the AAU Junior Olympics, the Futures International Development Camp, and the under-17 national team, to name a few.

"We traveled to Amsterdam with the U-17 team," Vittese said. "We were there 10 days. We played the Ireland junior national team."

The Irish at Camden Catholic are happy that she plays with them.