Coaching is hard, but for High School South field hockey coach Tracy Klugerman, some decisions come easy.
Take Julia Dorfman as Exhibit A.
“She’s just one of those kids you love to put on the field because you know she’s gonna give you everything she’s got,” the veteran coach said. “She wants to win. She wants to compete. She’s a competitor”
The senior midfielder is also a talent, as witnessed by her eight assists and team-leading 23 goals last year. Dorfman scored in 11 of 17 games and produced points in 13 contests. She had nine multi-goal games and 11 multi-point efforts in earning All-Colonial Valley Conference first-team honors for the second straight year.
“My junior year was definitely a success,” said Dorfman, who helped a young Pirate team go 8-9. “I was very pleased with my achievements at the end of the season. I think that as a team we performed stronger than the previous year and we intend to only improve more.”
In assessing Dorfman’s play, Klugerman feels that her scoring is only one facet of her game. If something needs to be done elsewhere on the field, Julia will do it.
“She’s an all-around player,” the coach said. “She plays 100 percent all out in the midfield, in the defensive area. She’s one of our go-to players on corners. She’s very aggressive, very tenacious. She’s just a strong player.
“She works well with her teammates distributing the ball. When there’s a 50-50 ball you know she’s gonna give it everything she’s got to get to it. She’s just that kind of player. She’s a natural athlete, she’s got great game sense for the game of field hockey.”
When it comes to playing in front of the goal, Dorfman’s instincts are uncanny. Rather than just try to whack one past the goalie, she looks for the best opportunity available between herself or her teammates.
“I like to think I have a good sense of the field and positioning around me,” Dorfman said. “When my angle isn’t open, I look elsewhere for a better opportunity rather than forcing myself on goal. I think that playmaking is actually rather fun, trying new and different plays and seeing what works is super exciting. Especially when it works in a game!”
And while she has numerous skills, the ones that are most noticeable is when she is on the attack.
“She’s got good hands, she’s got great hand-eye coordination, and the kind of tenaciousness that you can’t teach kids,” Klugerman said. “She has that kind of heart to dive in there and try to get her stick on the ball. She’s fast, she’s strong. She’s one of those players, if she can do something with the ball she’s gonna try to do it.”
There is a trick to scoring, however, that goes beyond stickwork and the ability to place a shot. One of the most important aspects is how to stay calm amidst the chaos of seemingly 1,000 sticks all around trying to poke the ball away.
“She’s got a nice hard hit, she can place the ball, but she’s also one of those kids who have that calm sense with the ball,” Klugerman said. “For other kids, it’s a little harder. They don’t always have their composure. They’re very good, very strong but it’s hit or miss if they’re gonna be able to pull it together. Julia, when she’s got the ball in the circle, more times than not she’ll try and do something with it.”
That was a trait that Dorfman had to develop over the years.
“I actually never thought I was calm with the ball when I first started playing,” she said. “I often would rush to get rid of the ball upfield or to a teammate. However, with time and coaching, I learned self-confidence and to trust myself more with the ball, which led to making better decisions.”
Dorfman is actually a Pirate field hockey legacy. Her mom, the former Tanya Murray, is a 1991 WW-P graduate who also played the sport. She encouraged her daughter to try the sport, but the real spark came from Dorfman’s close friend and classmate Olivia Duguay.
Duguay, who had already been playing field hockey, prompted Julia to attend the Rider University camp the summer prior to their seventh-grade year.
“I was super nervous about starting a new sport,” Dorfman said. “I owe Livi a lot for encouraging me to play and helping me realize how much potential I had in the sport.
“When I first started playing it mostly came easy to me. Of course, the whistles and rules were confusing but the actual stickwork and plays were super fun for me to learn. At the summer camp I remember winning the “Most Improved” award and feeling so proud of myself for all that I accomplished in that one week of camp.”
Up to that point, Dorfman was strictly a softball player. She began playing at age 4 “and immediately it clicked.” She remained dedicated to it through elementary and middle school and met some of her best friends on the diamond.
But as her desire for field hockey took hold, she opted to make that her club sport and only played softball in-season. That hasn’t hurt her game much, as Julia has a .381 career average with 45 stolen bases and 60 runs scored in three varsity seasons. Evidently, one sport aids the other.
“I think that playing the two sports definitely helps each other in ways,” Dorfman said. “They each teach me such important life skills such as teamwork and sportsmanship. But they are certainly very different. Softball can be more independent as you rely solely on yourself at the plate, but field hockey is more of a team effort towards goal.”
Once Julia decided on which sport to focus on, she joined the Princeton Field Hockey Club and felt it helped her grow as a person on and off the field.
“I’ve met and worked with such amazing and talented players and coaches that allowed me to develop my game,” said Dorfman, who also attended “fun” summer camps such as BlueStar, the Hun School and Princeton University. After enjoying an undefeated middle school season in eighth grade, Dorfman’s hockey career hit a glitch as a freshman when WW-P schools shut down fall sports in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Klugerman felt she had an outstanding squad of upperclassmen that year and would have liked to see Dorfman and Duguay blend in with that squad. The coach felt the loss of that season set back both the program as a whole and the players individually, but Dorfman did not feel her game suffered much.
“Losing my freshman year was heartbreaking,” she said. “After such a great eighth-grade season I was so excited to grow my game at the next level. As a sophomore, it was strange to be “new” to the team but not the youngest. I don’t think that it set me back personally too much; it was more just sadness that I lost a whole year playing my favorite sport. And we would have been pretty good that year too.”
As a sophomore, Julia notched nine goals and four assists and was paired in the midfield next to Duguay. It is a partnership that continues to grow and improve.
“It’s a pretty strong senior class, but they were standouts from the beginning,” Klugerman said. “They complement each other so well. You can tell they played on teams together in the past. They know what they’re doing, they work very well, they’re skilled in the small passing game, where a lot of players don’t have that coming in.”
Dorfman noted that “Livi is my best friend on and off the field. I’ve known Liv since we were five when we started t-ball together. We’ve always been close because of softball but it wasn’t until sixth grade that we clicked over cross country and honestly, we’ve been inseparable ever since. I’m so lucky to play next to my best friend on the field. Together with Esme Madia the three of us have a strong connection on and off the field.”
It is their contributions, along with the return of several other skilled players, that has the Pirates optimistic about this year. And while that excites Dorfman, sports is not her only focus as witnessed by a 4.46 grade point average.
Julia is a WW-PS Peer Leader and enjoys giving tours to new students and organizing school events. She is also a Madricha (mentor) in Gesher Le-Kesher (bridge to connection), which holds peer groups to aid and guide younger Jewish teens in the area.
“I love giving back to my community and school,” she said. “I also love to spend time with my family and friends. My sister will actually be joining me on the field hockey team and I’m so excited to play alongside her.”
This school year will be it for Dorfman as far as interscholastic athletics are concerned. Klugerman feels she is good enough to play college field hockey at some level but after some soul searching, Julia decided against it.
“I contemplated for a long time about my field hockey career in college and after many connections with coaches I’ve actually decided against continuing it after high school,” she said. “You could say I’m just going the ‘academic route’ but I intend to keep field hockey in my life either with a club team or intramurals.”
And wherever she decides to play, there will be a coach who loves to put her on the field.
Senior midfielder Julia Dorfman, pictured above in a game from 2022, returns to the High School South field hockey team this fall. Last year she scored in 11 of 17 games and produced points in 13 contests.,
