A new season of Bridgewater-Raritan High School field hockey is officially underway.
If the last couple of years were not already an indicator of this exciting opener on Wednesday, September 3, the Panthers are set up for another competitive season that will prepare them for the depths of November, especially given they advanced in the state tournament two years in a row via big upsets as the No. 12 or No. 13 seeds.
Even in defeat against Skyland Conference Raritan Division rival Voorhees High School on this Wednesday afternoon, Bridgewater-Raritan had a lot to be proud of after game one of its 2025 fall season.
Voorhees attempted all nine of the first half’s penalty corners and fired 20 of the game’s 25 shots against Bridgewater-Raritan, but freshman goalie Zahra Abraham made 17 saves in her memorable debut as the final line of a Panthers defense that took a scoreless tie into the fourth quarter. While both teams broke the ice and quickly traded goals early in the final period, sophomore Brooklynn Trego (one goal) sneaked in the go-ahead goal for Voorhees with 5:40 remaining.
Despite a heroic showing overall by Bridgewater-Raritan, Voorhees ultimately escaped with a hard-fought victory, 2-1, in the season opener for both teams at the 1000 Building Turf Field in Bridgewater.
“We definitely held strong the first half of the game,” praised third-year Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Sami Strathern of her team’s effort. “Overall, our defensive plays were executed well.”
“In the second half, we really took over offensively.”
Voorhees outshot Bridgewater-Raritan, 20-5, and posted a 13-6 advantage in attempted penalty corners.
However, the scoreboard said otherwise, courtesy of the Panthers’ defense, especially given neither team drew first blood for the first 49:45 of regulation.
Under the direction of Abraham in the cage to begin her varsity career, Bridgewater-Raritan notably stopped three quick penalty corner attempts by the Vikings in the first seven minutes of regulation alone. Although Voorhees’ offense looked to be in control at this point, the Panthers got their first look of the game in transition just under nine minutes into the first quarter, but the resulting first shot of Bridgewater-Raritan’s five shots sailed just right.
With 2:25 left in the first period, Voorhees wrapped up another string of back-to-back penalty corner attempts, but the Vikings came up empty after Abraham blocked a barrage of shots during the tail end of this stretch.
“Zahra had some really nice clears,” assessed Strathern of her goalie’s performance. “Being a freshman goalkeeper is not an easy task.”
“She is like a brick wall back there, and she has been doing a fantastic job making great calls on the defensive corners.”
The result was no score after one quarter of regulation, even though Voorhees took all five of the period’s penalty corners. The Vikings then collected all four of the second quarter’s penalty corners, but Bridgewater-Raritan juniors Teagan Hughes (one assist) and Makenzie Harris (one assist) notably denied a pair of looks by Voorhees on its final such attempt of the first half with 1:20 to go in the second quarter.
After their defense escaped unharmed, the Panthers’ offense then produced its best look right in front of Voorhees’ cage to close out a scoreless first half.
However, Bridgewater-Raritan picked up right where it left off after the break.
Just under five minutes into the third quarter, the Panthers drew contact twice inside of the Vikings’ arc for their first two penalty corner opportunities of the game, and the script started to turn in Bridgewater-Raritan’s favor. With 5:40 remaining in the third period, Bridgewater-Raritan called a timeout after tallying two more quick such chances after Voorhees opened the day with the game’s first nine.
The Vikings’ offense did not any more contact inside of the penalty area until three minutes remained in the third quarter, which eventually set up one final shot by Voorhees in the final 60 seconds of the third quarter.
Nonetheless, after three quarters, both defenses still had ‘zeroes’ posted on the scoreboard.
Voorhees fired the fourth quarter’s first shot, but two minutes later, senior Nadia DiRe (one assist) was primed to get her Vikings squad on the board first. While the shot was denied by Abraham, the resulting putback by sophomore Elizabeth Rojewski (one goal) finally broke the ice and gave Voorhees a 1-0 lead with 10:15 to go.
Not even a minute and a half later, Harris answered for Bridgewater-Raritan on a dead-center rocket from the penalty corner arc on a perfect pass from Hughes.
Just like that, Harris’ equalizer knotted the score at 1-1 with 8:59 left in regulation.
“You can’t be upset about a beautiful offensive corner goal,” a pleased Strathern said of the Panthers’ first goal of 2025.
“That was an awesome shot and an awesome goal, and I’m really proud of Makenzie on that.”
But Bridgewater-Raritan’s rally came up just short.
With 5:40 to go, Voorhees junior Sheridan Sieber (one assist) made the dish on the go-ahead goal by Trego, whose shot barely beat the right foot of a sliding Abraham on her valiant attempt at another stop. Leading 2-1 after this moment, the Vikings continued to withstand a late charge by Bridgewater-Raritan and Voorhees forced a turnover on the Panthers’ final penalty corner attempt with one minute remaining before running out the clock.
As a result, Voorhees held on to win an entertaining first game of the season on the back of Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s campus.
“We had some excellent connective passing throughout the midfield and beautiful transitions across the field,” explained Strathern of her team’s offense in the second half. “We have really young players working in, and they bring a new energy and a new speed to the game that we didn’t have previously.”
“I think that they are starting to work well with our more veteran players.”
Sophomore Sophia Forsyth (three saves) picked up the victory at goalie for the Vikings, who will serve as host to the Panthers in what will be an anticipated regular-season rematch Monday, September 22
In addition to Bridgewater-Raritan and Voorhees, also part of the six-team Skyland Conference Raritan Division in 2025 are Mount Saint Mary Academy, Hunterdon Central Regional High School, Montgomery High School, and Watchung Hills Regional High School.
Bridgewater-Raritan will try to bounce back next against Hillsborough High School (0-1) at 10 a.m. Saturday, September 6, at the 1000 Building Turf in Bridgewater.