La Plume, (8-31-10) – Two years ago Keystone College re-introduced field hockey as a varsity sport and the Giants promptly turned in a 10-win season and a berth in the conference semi-finals.
Last season the team did it one better turning in an 8-0 conference mark en route to a school record 14-win season and another berth in the conference semi-finals.
This year head coach Kacy Manning will be looking to take that past experience as the team continues to strive for the next level.
Gone from last year is All-Conference selection and the team's leading scorer in Nicole Macedonio (Factoryville, PA/Lackawanna Trail). The Giants netted 42 goals last season, with Macedonio accounting for nine of those.
However, the team does return two key cogs in the offensive attack in Brackney Brotzman (Brackney, PA/Montrose) and Samantha Morgan (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights). Brotzman was second on the team in goals scored with seven, while Morgan was among the nation's leaders with 10 assists.
Kelsey Drozda (Wilkes-Barre, PA/G.A.R. Memorial), the 2009 CSAC Rookie of the Year and Lori-Ann Marino (Hawley, PA/Wallenpaupack) also return to the team with the duo scoring five and four goals respectively last season.
Another of the key pieces set to return is goalkeeper (Wilkes-Barre, PA/G.A.R. Memorial) '10FH.JPG" />season and had an1.53 goals against average.
Coach Manning will also be looking at a pair of sophomores, Hope Krolewski (Bear Creek, PA/Holy Redeemer ) and Brooke Stutts (Thompsontown, PA/East Juniata), to contribute greatly. “Hope's speed and aggressiveness really enhance her talents, while we are looking at Brooke to step into some key roles this year,” remarked Coach Manning. “The versatility of Megan Mancuso (Lake Hiawatha, NJ/Parsippany) and Laura Rosenkrans (Greentown, PA/Wallenpaupack) will also allow us to switch things up.”
With nine new faces this year Coach Manning should not be at a loss to fill key roles on the field. “LeeAnna (Bennett), Katie (Darling), Megan (Fry) and Libby (Brown) all come from great programs and I expect them to be impact players early on for us,” added Coach Manning.
“The first two years have been great, we had back-to-back winning seasons and a taste of the playoffs, these have been positive experiences and hopefully we can continue to build from them.”
The Giants open their season on Wednesday at 4pm when they travel to King's College. The team opens its home slate on September 3 at 6pm when they entertain Vassar College. That match will be played at Riverfront Sports in Scranton.
