Rimla Raza originally considered playing soccer in middle school, but that wasn’t an option in sixth grade. So she took up field hockey instead.
“In sixth grade I actually wasn’t that good,” Raza said. “I was just trying it out. I wanted to see if this is maybe the sport for me.”
Five years later, it’s clear she picked the right sport. Field hockey has become a passion for Raza, now a junior at High School South.
Despite a slow start, Raza credits Grover Middle School co-coaches Jessica Murphy and Todd Robinson for sparking a steady rise over her career that now includes ambitions of playing in college.
“Coach Murphy and Coach Robinson, were the best and they really helped me love the game,” Raza said.
She jumped right in to play with Princeton Field Hockey Club after that first fall season. She learned more about the game that winter, and has remained with the club year-round since then.
“When we joined, it was indoor season,” Raza said. “It was a completely different game on hardwood flooring, not on turf, and I progressed really well.”
She said that her coaches on the team told her, “you’ve always been very on top of your game,” and she got moved up from her age division. That inspired her to keep growing.”
Raza was in seventh grade when her club bumped her up from U-12 to U-14 and then eventually to U-16. She has blossomed into a top player for the Pirates, and led South in goal scoring last year.
“She’s a very skilled player,” said Pirates head coach Tracy Klugerman. “She has very good stick skills. She has a variety of different hits that she can use. She’s aggressive…. I think she’s definitely going to be one of our scorers.”
The Pirates will be looking for some help for Raza on attack so defenses can’t concentrate on her. South graduated two of its top three scorers, leading scorer Julia Dorfman and Olivia Duguay. Those two helped to generate scoring opportunities, and they will be missed.
“They were two of our midfield players that controlled the field and were just phenomenal all-around players and leaders on the field,” Klugerman said.
He adds: “But for the most part we have the rest of our team returning. I’m hoping we should be solid. We have some kids that are ready to step up into those spots and hopefully they can.”
South opens the season Sept. 9 against South Brunswick before getting into Colonial Valley Conference play against Lawrence on Sept. 11.
Raza said she liked the early progress that the Pirates showed in their first week of practice as they sorted out how to improve on last year’s 10-win season.
Rithanya Senthivel, Raveena Ananth, Ella Fiuczynski, Julia Kozakowski and Abby Rozentsvayg are seniors back from last year. Junior teammates include Emily Kim, Sneha Banda, Anja Basdeo, Annabella Ruiz. Isabella Zola returns in goal.
“We need to convert our opportunities,” Klugerman said. “We were in so many games that we lost last year—a lot of close games.”
She said the team has to convert on its corners and take advantage of the opportunities when they’re in the circle.
“We have a strong defense,” Raza said. “We have returning goalie who’s played for a couple of years now with us, so I think we’re solid. I hope we can squeak out another .500 or better year. It’s going to come down to who’s going to put it in the goal.”
Raza figures to be a top candidate for that role. She made a huge jump from her first season of high school field hockey. After scoring twice in her freshman year, she led South with 18 goals last season.
“I feel way more confident than I was in the previous years,” Raza said. “I feel like I’m more skilled. I feel like I’m more confident when it comes to games and when it comes to having opportunities in the circle and also just having my teammates there.”
Along with an increased confidence came a bit more aggressiveness last year. Raza made an effort to be in more of the action and not to push the ball away.
“I think I was more aggressive,” she said. “I tried to cut to the ball, I was always sending the ball up. I feel like I wasn’t always trying to do everything myself and also using my teammates to help me.”
She is hopeful that she can use her own experience to help others improve. The Pirates have a number of younger players that will be looking to make an impact this season.
“I see a lot of the incoming freshmen and they remind me of when I was younger,” she said. “So I always try to help them, like teaching them how to hit, teaching them where to go, definitely communicating with them on the field and definitely just encouraging them.”
Raza has been working at all aspects of becoming even more successful. Her year-round club field hockey commitments have kept her from playing other sports, though she balances other interests.
She enjoys art and painting and is a strong student in school. She likes to babysit, and looks forward to one day coaching younger players and sharing her love of field hockey.
Raza emphasizes that the team must work together to be their most productive on attack. She doesn’t want the team to rely on just one or two players, but rather a variety of sources this year so they are tougher to stop.
“It’s definitely big shoes to fill, but I feel like all of us have really stepped up as a team this year, and our offensive line is really good, our mids, our offense and our defense,” said Raza. “I feel like we’ve been scrimmaging a lot, and we’ve always been getting opportunities in the circle. ”
Klugerman says she can foresee improvement from the team as some of the younger players gain vital experience and the players find their roles.
The Pirates are in the Colonial Division of the CVC and front-runners Princeton High, Princeton Day School and Notre Dame again look like the best of the league. South has the ability to be among the top half of the league again.
“That’s one of the good things about field hockey,” Klugerman said. “The beauty of field hockey is it could go either way at any moment. Anybody can win really. So if you can come away with some strong defense and stay in the game, all it takes is one goal. I’m positive about the season at this point. I think we have a nice team, a good group of girls.”
Raza said she is confident that the Pirates will develop. She knows that her breakout year not only raises expectations from among her teammates, but opponents too know all about her as a goal scorer. She will be receiving more attention from opposing teams as she tries to again create scores for South.
“Honestly, I think that the pressure is definitely on, but I’ve definitely learned to keep my composure when it comes to big games and big opportunities,” Raza said.
She adds: “And honestly, I’m really excited to live up to those expectations because I think that I’m very capable of doing it and I’m really proud of what I accomplished last year. And it just gives me more motivation to be better this year.”
Field hockey player Rimla Riza, a junior at WW-P High School South. (Photo by Bryan Basdeo.),
