Attack-minded Mounties back for another stick season

Posted 8/29/16

Mount St. Joseph's 2016 field hockey captains are seniors (from left) Margot Biamon, Marge Lynch, and Ava Self. (Photo by Tom Utescher) by Tom Utescher In early August, Mount St. Joseph Academy field …

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Attack-minded Mounties back for another stick season

Posted

Mount St. Joseph's 2016 field hockey captains are seniors (from left) Margot Biamon, Marge Lynch, and Ava Self. (Photo by Tom Utescher) Mount St. Joseph's 2016 field hockey captains are seniors (from left) Margot Biamon, Marge Lynch, and Ava Self. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

In early August, Mount St. Joseph Academy field hockey players got to watch their MSJ forerunners Katie and Julia Reinprecht perform for the United States in the 2016 Olympic Games. Soon, though, the current Mounties were taking up their own sticks to begin training for the 2016 season.

Head Coach Tina Reinprecht was still down in Rio with her daughters for the first week, so familiar assistants MaryBeth Stefanowicz and Vanessa Fry ran the show when practices got underway on August 15. During that first week, the Inter-Ac League schools had not yet started their pre-season workouts, so the Magic were able to go over to Germantown Academy and train on an artificial turf surface, something which Mount St. Joseph still lacks.

In addition to a seasoned coaching staff, the 2016 Mount franchise will have strong senior leadership, including that provided by tri-captains Margot Biamon, Marge Lynch, and Ava Self. Lynch, a Norwood Fontbonne Academy alum, made a verbal commitment to play for Princeton University a year ago, and Self has decided she'll sign on with Lafayette College.

The other seniors on the team are Gabby Egan, Suzanne Kushnerick, and Hanna Poliwoda. Egan is one of the candidates to step into the goal cage, hoping to continue the legacy of a very solid multi-year starter, Allison McMullen. Two other potential candidates are last year's JV keepers, current sophomores Maeve McCarthy and Claire Maguire.

A total of 11 seniors graduated off of the 2015 Mount roster, and as with McMullen, their loss will primarily be felt at the defensive end of the pitch. Last fall, a lot of the Magic's scoring and offensive transition was generated by sophomores and freshman. Natalie McNamara, Mary Kate Stefanowicz, and Grace Wallis are back as juniors, and Julianna Kratz and Ellie Maransky are now sophomores.

The overall speed of this group helped make the Mount an exciting team to watch last season. Wallis, who comes from St. Genevieve's School just down the street (like Kratz), has committed to play for the University of Virginia.

Norwood grad Jax Nyzio, a junior, moved up into the varsity line-up during the latter part of the 2015 campaign, and another 11th-grader showing promise is Ashley Moore. Stepping up alongside sophomores Kratz and Maransky is their classmate Mari Kniezewski, another Norwood product.

Last fall Mount St. Joseph finished second within the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies, and then advanced to the quarterfinals of the District 1 Class AAA (large school) tournament.

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