SMITH SHOWCASING TALENT FOR RED BANK CATHOLIC’S RESURGENT SEASON

MIDDLETOWN – Since the No. 8 ranked Red Bank Catholic field hockey team started playing in the Class B North division in 2014, the Caseys hadn’t beaten perennial division favorite No. 2 Wall in that time frame. In fact, the Caseys had been outscored 49-1 in six previous losses to the Crimson Knights but that recent streak of misfortune changed in a big way on Monday, Sep. 25 at Count Basie Field. With Samantha Sercia’s one-goal, one-assist effort, combined with Shannon Tringola’s one goal and Julianne Kopec’s one assist, in addition to Erin Smith’s 10 saves, the Caseys secured the ‘upset of the season’ with a 2-1 win over Wall. “We knew that it was going to be a battle. Last year, they crushed us. Everybody was just on,” Red Bank Catholic coach Megan Pietrunti said. “There are some days where you can’t have everybody on but Monday every single girl played their ‘A’ game. It was just amazing to watch. It was amazing to coach.” Last season, Wall won, 14-1, on Sep. 26 at Wall and, 4-1, on Oct. 14 at Count Basie Field in the two Class B North meetings between the teams. But Smith, by her own admission, didn’t play goalie prior to attending high school, and she was a difference maker for the Caseys’ defense against Wall’s traditionally strong offense. “Yeah. They (Wall) had quite a few breakaways on me. They got down there a lot,” Smith said. “The shots to the post were really tough. There was one way up in the air that I had to jump and hit it down. That was the scariest part.” Smith, who has made 69 saves in 10 games this season, was one of 15 candidates for the first Asbury Park Press’ Field Hockey Player of the Week readers’ poll, which was a cumulative total from the start of the season. The APP readers loved Smith’s effort thus far this season as she was indeed the ‘people’s choice’ when she received 6,965 of the 17,549 votes casted (39.69 percent).