SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 1
| MONDAY’S SCORES | WEDNESDAY’S QUARTERFINALS |
| Shore 8, Haddon Heights 0 | Lower Cape May vs. Shore |
| Lower Cape May 1, Bordentown 0 | |
| Woodstown 2, Collingswood 0 | Woodstown at Rumson-Fair Haven |
| Rumson-Fair Haven 8, Salem Tech 0 | |
| West Deptford 9, Gloucester 1 | Schalick at West Deptford |
| Schalick 4, Gateway 2 | |
| Florence at Haddon Twp. | Haddon Twp.-Florence at PP Boro |
| PP Boro 5, Audubon 0 |
PITTSGROVE — Schalick senior Ella Cheesman has played in a first-round playoff game every year of her varsity career, but this one wasn’t quite like the others.
The Cougars knew they were in for a fight and needed to be ready for it. They scored two goals in the first five minutes, three in the first quarter and went on to beat Gateway 4-2 in their South Jersey Group 1 opener. It was their season-best eighth win in a row and 15th in the last 16 games since opening the season 0-2.
The sixth-seeded Cougars (15-3) now travel to third-seeded West Deptford (17-4-1) for Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
The Cougars didn’t waste any time establishing control. Lily Terrigno opened the scoring 2:26 into the game and scored two goals in the first quarter around Luci Virgil’s 20th of the season. Elena Valella made it 4-0 in the final minute of the second quarter.
“We had a goal going into this, to score within the first 10 minutes and then to hold the lead by two throughout the game,” Schalick coach Heather Cheesman said.
It looked like that would be the halftime margin, but Gateway (7-9-3), a No. 11 seed despite finishing 13th in the SJ Group 1 power points standings, scored on the continuation of a corner after time had expired. The Gators made it 4-2 with a penalty stroke in the third quarter.
This story will be updated.
Top photo: Schalick’s Luci Virga (1) puts a shot on Gateway goalie Maddison Troendle in the first half of their South Jersey Group 1 field hockey playoff game Monday.