High school sports fans in Hamilton Township often like to fantasize about how good a particular athletic squad could be if players from Hamilton West, Nottingham and Steinert combined to form one team. The thought process is that it would be a pretty good outfit and, although it’s not a completely accurate gauge, the Mercer County Community College women’s soccer team may be proving that assessment to be true.
The Vikings opened the season with four wins in five games and had outscored their opponents by a combined 15-3, with all three goals allowed in a loss to Essex. A quick look at the roster shows that 71 percent of the team comes from Hamilton Township, as 13 of the 19 players are from Steinert, Hamilton or Nottingham.
“It’s really cool,” said freshman Mani Kissling, a Steinert grad. “We were just talking about it the other day. We were all competitors, and it’s crazy how we all get on one team together, and we literally jelled so quickly. We clicked so easily.
“We were actually confused about it. We were rivals, we were against each other, and now we’re all together kicking butt.”
Asked if she found that players she disliked before are actually better people than she ever thought, Kissling laughed.
“I actually don’t ever remember the people we play,” she said. “So I don’t know if I didn’t like them or not.”
But she likes them now, as does coach Michelle Ogborn-Haywood.
“This group is the best,” said Ogborn, who has gotten Mercer to the Region 19 finals the past two years. “They kind of came in with a little different look on their faces because they see all these people from different schools who they don’t know except for playing against them. And then they think they don’t want to bond with them because now they’re fighting each other for a position.
“But we went through the preseason, we took a couple trips and it forms a bond. Now they’re like ‘It’s cool, we used to play each other now we play on the same side.’”
The township dozen arrived at Mercer in various ways. Some transferred, some had MCCC as their first choice and some planned on going to another college but things didn’t work out and they ended up on the West Windsor campus.
Leading the way from Hamilton are five Steinert grads—Kissling, freshmen forwards Angelique Wysock and Alexandra Biondi, sophomore defender Angelina Buzgo and sophomore midfielder Sarah Ghaffoor. Four Hamilton West grads are on board, including freshman midfielder Sam Barlow, freshman defender Chelsea Johnson, freshman forward Danielle Schneck and sophomore forward Colleen Murphy. Rounding it out is a Nottingham foursome that includes freshman midfielder Dana Davies, sophomore forward Lyndsey Buckley, sophomore Kaitlyn Diamond and sophomore defender Sara Eggert.
“I wanted Wysock for sure because she was tall and fast.” Ogborn said. “I needed somebody up top who would be a striker. Diamond and Eggert were going somewhere else so they were non tangible, and Danielle was awesome but wasn’t going to play. But for whatever reason, they all ended up coming.”
Two of the Steinert players are sidelined, as Biondi is out for the season with an ACL and Buzgo, a transfer from Misericordia, also has an ACL issue but could return before the season ends. The coach certainly hopes so, as she has an interesting analogy to discuss Buzgo’s disruptive ability in the back.
“She’s like when a bunch of rowdy sailors go into a bar and everyone runs out,” Ogborn said. “She’s amazing. She’s used to being a sweeper but now she plays the middle back and she plays the whole time. She’s my ace in the hole.
“Five girls could be attacking and charging her, and she very calmly goes in the middle of all of them and strips them every time. There’s not a look on her face like ‘I’ll tear you up.’ She’s just very relaxed, goes right into whoever has the ball and comes out with it every single time.”
Barlow is a similar type player who has no issues with sacrificing her body for the sake of winning possession. She played with a broken nose at West, as well as a bunch of other nagging injuries.
“She’s amazing,” Ogborn said. “She’s tough and she’s not scared of the ball, she can play offense or defense. She’s a great striker, she does corner kicks, free kicks. There’s always something going on with her ankle or her knee, but the kid is tough.
“She’s a really good player, a smart player. She knows when to dish, when to run, when to strike it hard. She’s very talented and very smart. Just such a good team player.”
Speaking of a team player, Buckley came up huge early in the season by taking one for the team.
When goalie Kasey Schneider was out injured, Mercer had no back-up. Because Buckley plays softball, Ogborn convinced her to step in, comparing playing goal to playing the infield. The former Northstar promptly recorded two shutouts before moving back to the field.
“She’s great,” Ogborn said. “She’s very relaxed. She’s of those people where you tell her once and she does it and you say thank you. She’s very athletic, she’s fast and she’s in the best shape on the whole team.
“The best thing in soccer is the element of surprise and with Lyndsey you never know when it’s coming. She has this amazing ability to stop her body on a dime, switch it, and know what’s going on. And she can go 90 minutes without pooping out.”
Then there are Buckley’s former teammates, Diamond and Davies.
“Katie is our fireball,” Ogborn said, noting that she also played goal during a scrimmage in Lock Haven. “She adds that element of silly, quirky, spontaneous energy and sense of humor that you want on every team. She has been working very hard to win a starting position on the field and she has. She always goes 100 percent and has proved that she is an asset to our team.”
Davies has maintained her ability to wreak havoc with non-stop energy.
“I didn’t know anything about Dana, and she came out and she’s flying,” Ogborn said. “She’s very strong, very muscular. When she gets it moving she’s flying, fearless and tough. She’s got a rocket foot and she can play offense and defense.”
Another pleasant surprise was Schneck, who decided to play at the last minute.
“She’s this teeny tiny little girl and I said ‘OK, let’s see what we can do,” Ogborn said. “From the second we got out there, in the first 30 seconds I’m like ‘Oh my God!’ She was fast, she was good. She can get around anyone and she’s smart, she knows when to dish off.
“She was my best surprise. I didn’t see that coming.”
The remaining Hornets have both been transformed this year – one by position, one in attitude.
“Chelsea Johnson was a back defender, now she’s moved up a little,” Ogborn said. “She’ll either play a double stopper or if we play a flat back four, she’ll be up front. And she’s fast.”
The coach calls Murphy her caterpillar due to her transformation.
“I told Colleen if she was going to be up top she had to be relaxed,” Ogborn said. “She can’t let the ball play her, she has to play the ball. Now she’s a completely different player than last year. She’s relaxed and she’s good.
“She knows where to put the ball, she can dribble, strike and shoot, can play midfield. She’s definitely a leader and has transformed herself as a player.”
Another girl who has an effective mellowness to her game is Ghaffoor, who can play center midfield or on the wing.
“She’s another little tiny thing that can fly,” Ogborn said. “She’s very relaxed and dishes the ball very well and chips it very well. When someone is attacking you, she’s good. She has a lot of skill and control of her body.”
Two of the freshmen played for Steinert last year. Kissling started at midfield, while Wysock came off the bench to become an effective goal scorer toward the end of the season.
“Mani is always seeing what she can do to make herself better,” Ogborn said. “I know she has a lot of skill and personality. She’s someone you always hope for. She adds that quirky sense of humor. She needed to settle down a little and she’s done that. She’ll get a lot of playing time and do great things.
“Q (her nickname for Wysock) is going to play up top. She’s starting to get it too. She’s getting more relaxed and fighting through the ball more instead of panicking and giving up. She’s a great striker. She’s got those long legs and she’s fast. I keep telling her once it clicks in her head, she’s going to be real good for us.”
If the early results were any indication, Mercer is going to be real good with so many township players. There is not only talent, but camaraderie as well.
“I ‘m thinking as long as we keep our heads in the game, work our butts off, we can go far,” Kissling said. “There’s not a person on the team that doesn’t have any skill. Everybody on our team has amazing talent. No matter who we put in, they work hard and we all have talent.
“But I really think it’s more of a personality aspect. We all have open and friendly personalities. When you put that many people on a team that are open to people you make friends quickly. The talent just adds to it. When things are working on the field you become even happier with the person and more excited. But maybe that’s just me.”
Don’t be it on it Mani. It’s at least you and your coach, and probably a whole lot of other people too.
,
