Hampered by a lingering hamstring injury, Campbell McDonald got off to a slow start this fall for the Princeton High field hockey team.
But getting up to speed with her leg feeling better, senior striker McDonald has caught fire as the calendar has turned to October.
On October 1, McDonald scored three goals to help PHS defeat Lawrence 5-0. Six days later, McDonald registered another hat trick as the Little Tigers topped Princeton Day School 6-1.
In reflecting on her hot streak, McDonald said it is a joint effort. “I do feel like I am in a good groove,” said McDonald.
“I think it is just knowing that is my last season and it is so close to ending. I want to get it while it is hot. I cannot take all of the credit for that, my team is always behind me. I just try to be where they need me.”
The PHS team was clicking on all cylinders in the win over PDS, jumping out to a 3-0 first half lead.
“We have been working really hard in practice,” said McDonald. “At this point, everything is just looking toward MCTs and states. We are just trying to raise our game to the highest level we can play so that we are ready for what is coming.”
Falling 3-1 to Lawrenceville in late September helped PHS get better ready for the stretch drive.
“I think we went into Lawrenceville knowing that it was going to be a tough game and it definitely challenged us more than we anticipated,” said McDonald.
“We are going to hopefully see them again in MCTs so we have had to step up all over so that we are ready for that. We work really hard in practice and it is showing. I could not be happier with the girls I am out there with. They all work so hard and I couldn’t ask for a better team.”
McDonald loves being out on the field with her classmates on the squad, who include Lucy Herring, Julia DiTosto, Elisa Kostenbader, and Cara Straus.
“We have been together since middle school so we have always had this strong bond,” said McDonald, who scored two more goals last Monday as PHS topped Steinert to improve to 13-2.
“I think it just grows and grows as we come towards our end. It is bittersweet so we are just trying to use all the time we have together and make the most of it.”
PHS head coach Heather Serverson believes her team is getting stronger and stronger on the offensive end.
“We have been working a lot on finishing in practices, especially that midfield transition into the circle,” said Serverson.
“It is really starting to pay off, both in that press to goal and our offensive corners.”
Serverson likes the way McDonald has been going to goal over the last few weeks.
“Campbell has really stepped up her game; she wasn’t playing as well in the beginning of the season,” said Serverson. “Somewhere in the middle she found the old Campbell and she is back.”
In Serverson’s view, senior star and Stanford-bound DiTosto has emerged as a force in the middle of the field for the Little Tigers.
“I think Julia has done a great job controlling the middle of the field, more offensively than defensively, so we are working on that defensive part of it,” said Serverson of DiTosto, who had two goals on the win over Steinert on Monday.
“She is a good offensive playmaker and we are starting to really feed off of that. It starts in that midfield transition and, in particular, if Julia is the one that starts it, things are just clean, perfect, and in all the right spots.”
For PHS, its losses to Lawrenceville and Allentown have helped the team focus on bringing the right mentality to each game.
“The biggest lesson that we took from Lawrenceville, and actually from Allentown too (a 1-0 defeat on September 5), is that we need to set the tone,” asserted Serverson, whose team is seeded second in the upcoming MCT and will play the winner of the Stuart Country Day-Nottingham play-in game in the first round of the tourney. “We need to go after every team with the same intensity right from the start.”
PHS is poised for a big finish. “I think we are just trying to stay healthy, we are trying to stay well rested,” said Serverson.
“We have been taking some days off so that the girls can fully recover. Luckily our schedule right now isn’t as challenging so we are able to utilize the depth of our bench and get everyone in the games and actually see what they are capable of. Some of them are really stepping up their games as well. I think we are going to peak at just the right time.”
McDonald, for her part, believes that last year’s heartbreaking overtime loss to Hopewell Valley in the MCT semis will help fuel this year’s postseason run.
“That gives us a lot of motivation,” said McDonald. “We are just so determined to get where we were last year and hopefully go farther.”