Lexi Smith goes scoreless in bid for field hockey record

Lexi Smith's drive to the top of the national record book ran into a roadblock on Tuesday.

Namely, the Maple Shade field hockey team.

Led by goalie Jamie Bennett and defender Lizzie Kerr, the Wildcats held Smith without a goal and emerged with a 5-2 victory in a Burlington County League Freedom Division game.

Smith, a senior, has 174 career goals. She will make another attempt to set the national record for high school goals Wednesday in a home game against Holy Cross.

"It's upsetting that I couldn't get it over with," Smith said after Tuesday's game at Florence. "I want to get this monkey off my back, but that's not the way the cards fell today."

Smith is tied with Sharon Landau Berney for the top spot in the national record book. Landau Berney set the record in 1985 for Rye Neck High School in Mamaroneck, N.Y.

"She's a scoring machine," Maple Shade coach Shayne Gismonde said of Smith. "I actually thought she was going to get the record today."

Gismonde said she assigned Kerr, an athletic senior, to shadow Smith all over the field. In addition, two or three other Wildcats seemed to converge on Smith when she entered the scoring circle.

And when Smith was able to get off an accurate shot, Bennett was there to make the save.

"It was all a blur, all adrenaline," said Bennett, a senior. "The big thing for us was to get the win. It was a nice bonus to stop the [record-setting] goal."

Gismonde said Bennett played the best game of her career.

"She was unreal," Gismonde said.

Gismonde said her team has "marked" Smith in every game except one - when Smith scored six goals against Maple Shade as a sophomore in 2010.

"She can basically score at will," Gismonde said. "She has that powerful of a shot. I'm surprised she didn't get the record. The big thing for us was to win the game. It was icing on the cake" to hold Smith without a goal.

Smith, who has committed to continue her field hockey career at The College of New Jersey, had several good scoring chances, especially in the first half. But Bennett made two strong saves, and some other Smith shots whistled wide or banged off the side of the cage.

Smith had fewer chances in the second half, as the Flashes seemed a bit rattled by Maple Shade's surge to a 5-0 lead. The Wildcats' victory tightened their grip on first place in the Freedom Division.

Smith's best shot in the second half was a blast that Bennett kicked away.

"It was definitely frustrating," Smith said.