Today, around 5 p.m. in Louisville, Ky., two umpires will bring a five-ounce plastic ball into the center of Horton Field on the campus of Sacred Heart Academy.
A whistle will be blown, and with that, the field hockey teams of Louisville Kentucky Country Day (Ky.) and Louisville Francis Parker (Ky.) will start play in the 52nd Apple Tournament, the traditional start of the scholastic field hockey season in the United States.
There will be a few thousand games in the states and commonwealths who have the sport of field hockey as they head towards their respective postseason championships.
There will also be hundreds of great stories over the course of the season. Stories of triumph and tragedy. Stories of rebuilding and renewal. Stories of recordbreaking and possibilities.
There are several items to keep an eye on. One, of course, is Emmaus (Pa.), your defending PIAA Class AAA champion, as they look to win a 36th consecutive District XI title.
In addition, the team that Emmaus beat last fall for the state title, Manheim (Pa.) Township, is going to make another serious run at the state title match. Despite losing 10 seniors including Brenna and Cali Campagna, the Streaks have enough awesome athletes to compete in the always-tough Lancaster-Lebanon League.
A player to keep your eye on for landmarks is Jordyn Hollamon. The Delmar (Del.) attacking midfielder is likely the next U.S. field hockey player to reach the 200 career goals mark, and she’s just two assists away from joining the elite 100-goal, 100-assist club. She is also the last of four cousins to graduate from the Delmar varsity field hockey program, which has won eight straight state championships and is going for a ninth this fall, a streak which will put the Wildcats in among the all-time greats.
I think you also need to keep an eye on how good Ashburn Independence (Va.) and star players Sammie Goin and Jaelen Perez can be. Independence will be one of about 60 teams scheduled to participate in the fifth National High School Invitational in Conshohocken, Pa.
That tournament, which takes place the weekend of Sept. 21, will have enormous intersectional matchups with many of the best youth players in the country.
But the one tournament that people are going to be looking at this postseason is the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) final. It is likely (though not guaranteed) that you’re going to see a rematch of last year’s title match between Pottstown Hill School (Pa.) and Villanova Academy of Notre Dame de Namur (Pa.). Hill, a team chock full of youth national team players, were upended by Notre Dame in last year’s final on a late goal.
I think, however, the most interesting title race in all of the nation is for large schools in the state of New Jersey. A number of generational talents are no longer plying their trades in schools such as Woolwich Kingsway (N.J.) and Voorhees Eastern (N.J.), so it begs the question of whether a northern team could win a Group IV state championship for the first time since Morristown Morris Knolls (N.J.) in 1997.
The 2024 season could see a number of first-time champions, given what we saw last year from developing areas of the country like northern Virginia. But I think there is going to be a recurrence of improvement in areas like the southern tier of New York, central Maine, northern California, and greater Columbus, Ohio.
But watch out for some great players and teams from the greater Charlotte area. There is going to be a Spooky Nook Effect on both public and private schools within 50 miles of the U.S. Olympic home base, especially given the fact that a lot of children of elite college players are now playing in club and scholastic hockey in the region.
It should be an interesting season no matter where you are. Go see a game; you never know where your next Olympic athlete will came from.