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Oct. 12, 2012 — BULLETIN: Lexi Smith stands alone as the NFHS all-time leading goal-scorer
FLORENCE, N.J. — They’re trying to get field hockey players in New Jersey not to retrieve the ball after they score goals. But Lexi Smith had a good reason.
In the ninth minute of a Burlington County Scholastic League game, the senior forward from Florence (N.J.) Memorial, having missed on a couple of corner chances earlier in the game through dribbling, took a different tack on the Flashes’ fourth penalty corner of the game.
Taking no extraneous touches, Smith rifled a 1-Up shot into the goalboard for the 175th goal of her high-school career to post the hosts to a 1-0 lead over Riverside (N.J.).
It was not just a goal, however. It was history. That history was made at 3:56 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2012. Smith’s opener broke the 28-year-old National Federation record of 174 goals.
After a group hug by the entire Florence team, Smith ran the ball to the bench, whereupon her mother, Gina Carey-Smith, gave her a big hug and a new ball to introduce into the game.
The goal was one of four that Smith scored in Florence’s 6-0 win over Riverside, but getting to the record was more than a little stressful. For an entire week, anticipation had built in the town of about 10,000 people located on the bend of the Delaware River as it cuts between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
There was this week’s Sports Illustrated, featuring the senior in its “Faces In The Crowd” section. At least one sign in front of a restaurant on the main highway reads “GO LEXI NO. 1” on it. A mural painted on the wall of a fitness center near the center of town has a mural of field hockey player on it wearing the number 32.
“Actually,” Smith deadpans, “I think that was more for my mom.”
But since Smith tied the National Federation record with a pair of prodigious blasts Oct. 5 at Palmyra, she was held scoreless through the next two and a half games. She, her team, the coaching staff, the local news media, her family, and former national record holder Sharon (Landau) Berney have been enveloped in their own version of Waiting for Godot to see when the 175th goal would be scored.
Through two home games earlier in the week against Maple Shade (N.J.) and Delran Holy Cross (N.J.), Smith was marked heavily and held goalless. And for the first three penalty corner chances against Riverside, it looked like nothing was working because of an organized corner defense unit led by goalie Ana Catarina Pereira, who had an outstanding performance with 19 saves.
Finally, on the team’s fourth corner, Smith got the record-breaking goal to the cheers and applause of a couple of hundred supporters.
“With that goal, I felt like a thousand pounds were lifted from my shoulders,” Smith said. “And to be able to run over to my mom, that was the best feeling.”
The goal seemed to relax the TCNJ-bound star, and she scored three more in the second half. It was Florence’s last goal of the day that showed Smith’s range of skills. A diagonal ball found Smith in the midfield, and she dummied it to herself to eliminate one of the Riverside halfbacks.
Even with a hamstring not at 100 percent, Smith rumbled diagonally through the striking circle, left a pair of lunging defenders in her wake, and found the backboard with a searing drive.
Oct. 12, 2012 — Statwatch for games through Oct. 10
Today’s Games of the Day
Villanova Academy of Notre Dame de Namur (Pa.) at Newtown Square Episcopal Academy (Pa.)
You’ve probably noticed something about the recent weekly Top 10 — the fact that there is a power shift to some of the private-school teams near Philadelphia. Episcopal Academy has been nothing short of awesome this year, and this match with Notre Dame Academy could decide the No. 1 seed in the PAISAA postseason tournament.
Louisville Sacred Heart (Ky.) vs. Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) at Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.)
This weekend at Klassner Field is a three-way round robin amongst former TopOfTheCountry trophy winners. This game may have the most mystique around it because Sacred Heart beat Wyoming Seminary in 2011 by four goals. Two weeks later, Eastern beat Sem by four. This should be a very interesting match.
Our heaping helping of scholastic field hockey stats this week has been tracking a full-out assault on history. And today may be a red-letter day 28 years in the making as Lexi Smith of Florence (N.J.) Memorial needs one more goal to break a 28-year-old National Federation record.
Here’s what we’ve compiled, thanks to, amongst others, the Portland Press-Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Harrisburg Patriot-News, the Newark Star-Ledger, the Ann Arbor News, Masslive.com, the Delaware County Daily Times and the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader:
INDIVIDUAL GOALS SCORED, SEASON
35 Lexi Smith, Florence (N.J.) Memorial
35 Austyn Cuneo, Voorhees Eastern (N.J.)
35 Kristy Bernatchez, Oakland Messalonskee (Maine)
34 Makaela Michonski, Skowhegan (Maine) Area
30 Marisa Cicione, Springfield Cardinal O’Hara (Pa.)
29 Kate Barber, St. Louis Lafayette (Mo.)
29 Amanda Steffey, Harrison City Penn-Trafford (Pa.)
28 Amanda Cassera, North Caldwell West Essex (N.J.)
28 Krista LaMaina, Collingswood (N.J.)
INDIVIDUAL ASSISTS, SEASON
30 Kate Barber, St. Louis Lafayette (Mo.)
22 Gina Guccione, Montclair-Kimberley Academy (N.J.)
22 Jessie Kent-Cutillo, Montclair (N.J.)
20 Rachel Piepert, St. Louis Lafayette (Mo.)
20 Rachel Yaney, Bridgewater-Raritan (N.J.)
19 Colleen McGlynn, St. Louis Visitation (Mo.)
19 Katie Foran, Harrisburg Central Dauphin (Pa.)
19 Ryan McCarthy, Summit Oak Knoll (N.J.)
INDIVIDUAL GOALS SCORED, CAREER
174 Lexi Smith, Florence (N.J.) Memorial
114 Amanda Cassera, North Caldwell West Essex (N.J.)
100 Austyn Cuneo, Voorhees Eastern (N.J.)
99 Heather Morris, Pottstown Owen J. Roberts (Pa.)
97 Shea Healy, Northfield Pioneer Valley Regional (Mass.)
94 Tara Vittese, Cherry Hill Camden Catholic (N.J.)
INDIVIDUAL ASSISTS, CAREER
129 Kate Barber, St. Louis Lafayette (Mo.)
GOALS SCORED, TEAM
137 Louisville Sacred Heart (Ky.)
119 Voorhees Eastern (N.J.)
117 Skowhegan (Maine) Area
102 Oakland Messalonskee (Maine)
WINNING STREAK, TEAM
49 Skowhegan (Maine) Area
43 Yorktown Tabb (Va.)
41 Voorhees Eastern (N.J.)
UNBEATEN STREAK, TEAM
81 Watertown (Mass.)
GOALKEEPER SHUTOUTS, CAREER
63 Katelyn Arnold, Center Valley Southern Lehigh (Pa.)
46 Shannon Johnson, West Long Branch Shore Regional (N.J.)
Now, we’re not sure our math is always right, and that’s where the readers come in. If you see something out of place or missing, by all means, send us an email, which should also include a bit of documentation (a website will do) or someone that can be called to double-check. Because this is a virtual medium, Statwatch can be added to at any time. Thanks for giving us a read, and we’ll do it all over again next Friday.
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