SENIOR MOMENT: Princeton Day School field hockey player Rowan Schomburg, second from right, goes after the ball as PDS played Stuart Country Day School last Wednesday in the opening round of the state Prep B tournament. Senior star Schomburg chipped in an assist as fourth-seeded PDS prevailed 3-2 in overtime over the fifth-seeded Tartans. PDS, which defeated Steinert 7-1 in a Mercer County Tournament consolation last Thursday to improve to 6-11-1, is slated to play at top-seeded Montclair Kimberley in the Prep B semis on October 28. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

As the Princeton Day School field hockey team prepared to play local rival Stuart Country Day in the opening round of the state Prep B tournament last Wednesday, the emphasis was on striking quickly.

“We wanted to get out of the gate strong,” said PDS senior star Rowan Schomburg. “We knew our mindset had to be score first and score often.”

The Panthers accomplished that goal, jumping out to a 1-0 lead on a first half goal by senior Katie Shih. After Stuart answered with a tally 10 minutes into the second half, Schomburg helped get PDS back in the lead as she assisted Val Radvany on a goal off a penalty corner.

“Inserting, I always want to get to the post and that is what happened,” said Schomburg. “Everyone was in the right spot at the right time.”

Stuart evened the game at 2-2 with a goal midway through the half, forcing overtime. The Panthers, though, didn’t waste any time clinching the win as Madison Mundenar blasted a ball into the cage just 28 seconds into the extra session.

“We knew the first minute had to be really strong because we obviously did not want to play 20 more minutes today,” said Schomburg.

For PDS, advancing to Prep B semifinals, where the Panthers will play at top-seeded Montclair Kimberley on October 28, was a major step forward.

“It is huge, we have improved so much over the past year and over the past two months even since playing Stuart in early season,” said Schomburg. “This was really big.”

A day after the win over Stuart, PDS routed Steinert 7-1 in a Mercer County Tournament consolation game as it improved to 6-11-1, having gone 5-1-1 in its last seven games. Schomburg is proud of the progress the Panthers have shown in the last month of the season.

“Coach (Heather) Farlow is an amazing coach, she has really made great improvements with our team,” said Schomburg.

“Our team chemistry is great. We all love being together. We hang out in the team room all of the time, it is really great. When we come to practice we know what we have to do. We have really hard practices.”

In Schomburg’s view, the key to the team’s recent success is playing harder at the offensive end of the field.

Getting touches in the circle and aggression is huge,” said Schomburg. “We do a lot of power and finesse drills so our shooting has improved. As you saw today, Madison has made strides.”

PDS head coach Heather Farlow believes that the emphasis on shooting paid dividends for Mundenar in the overtime.

“Yesterday we practiced shooting for close to an hour so I am glad that it paid off,” said Farlow.

“I told Madison right before overtime, we need to get a corner or you need to just hit it and just get the shot off because you will be surprised at what happens.”

As the game headed into overtime, Farlow looked to calm her players’ nerves.

“I said we just need to finish and let our hard work pay off,” recalled Farlow “It was 0-0, you haven’t lost this game. I think they were a little bit upset with the second goal. We just needed to shake it off and come out there hard. It is absolutely nerve-wracking; I told them that you guys like to make it interesting. It is something that we have practiced
pretty consistently in terms of talking about situations.”

In reflecting on PDS’s recent progress, Farlow attributes it to her players working more as a unit on the field.

“I think it is confidence in playing together as a team and just letting the ball do the work,” added Farlow.

“I think we have always had a focus on the team concept. We didn’t need anybody to be a hero, you just have to keep it simple.”

In Farlow’s view, the win over Stuart should serve as a major confidence builder for the squad.

“We are young so you don’t want to be overconfident, you don’t want to be insecure,” said Farlow.

“You want to have the right balance of confidence and competitiveness. I think for some of us after we scored one, we thought that it was going to be done and then after we scored two, I think they thought it was going to be done so we had to dig a little deeper today.”

Schomburg and her classmates on the team, Lauren Finley, Kate Laughlin, Ashley Abrams, and Shih, have helped the team become more secure in its identity.

“They have been great, they have been really positive with our younger players,” said Farlow.

“It is hard losing, so when they started to have some success early on and play competitively against teams that blew them out last year, I think that gave them some encouragement and confidence to get the young guys excited about what they could do.”

Schomburg, for her part, has enjoyed guiding the team’s younger player along with classmates and fellow captains Finley and Laughlin.

“The seniors in the past have taught us very well and we have tried to follow in their footsteps,” said Schomburg.

“We are really happy with that and the rest of the team definitely steps up all the time so we see a lot of leadership coming from the younger girls too. We are a young team so it is helping us.”