
They held them like prized possessions. They raised them over their heads. They even bent down to give them gentle kisses as a few camera bulbs flashed and parents jostled for positioning to get their own photos.
βIt means so much,β Michigan State-bound senior Maddie Lawlor said. βI was so excited going into this game because not only was it my last game with probably the best friends Iβve made through this sport, but it was such a hard fought game.β
Seneca High Schoolβs field hockey team wasnβt in Bordentown, capturing the state championship that eluded them in the last three straight years. COVID-19 robbed them of that opportunity — and everyone else in the state, too — when the state playoffs were called off before the 2020 season even began.Β
On Friday, they were behind Haddonfieldβs stadium, near the parking lot with Cyndi Lauperβs βGirls Just Wanna Have Funβ fittingly blaring over the speakers. The celebratory atmosphere sure made it feel like the Golden Eagles had won a state championship.Β
In a game pitting two teams that had played in a combined six state championship games the previous three years, Seneca knocked off host Haddonfield in a dominating 4-0 decision to capture the teamβs fourth straight sectional title.
The senior quartet of Lawlor, Cassidy Strittmatter, Olivia Quagliero and Devon Webb — posing, kissing, and hamming it up with those four trophies afterward — entered a program that hadnβt ever won a championship and are leaving it 4-for-4 in sectional title games.
βThey were the ones that (made it happen), they learned from the ones ahead of them and it speaks volumes of the program, the coaches that have been through this program to start it,β Seneca coach Kristina Foster said. βI think for the seniors to be able to finish this year with yet another trophy, it means the world to them, it means the world to us, and itβs going to set a precedent for the ones after them.β

βIt means so much to all of us,β said Quagliero. βOur freshman year the seniors were such good role models for us. We kind of moved off of that. We knew from the start we could start a legacy. (This yearβs) seniors, from freshman year until now, we knew we had the ability to win. And we showed the younger girls they can do it, too, to keep it going.β
Itβs been quite a run for a school that only opened its doors (in 2003) the year many in the senior class were born. The legacy the Class of 2021 is leaving has catapulted Seneca into the upper echelon of South Jersey field hockey, joining the likes of perennial powers like Haddonfield, Shawnee, Moorestown and Eastern.Β
Fittingly, Fridayβs Southwest B Group Championship began with one of Senecaβs seniors striking early.Β
Strittmatter sunk a penalty stroke in the gameβs opening minutes to put the Golden Eagles up 1-0. Before the end of the first half, Strittmatterβs younger sister, Tess, set up a goal from Lawlor that doubled Senecaβs advantage.
The second half was more of the same. Junior Sophia Abate found the back of the net twice within a 10-minute span and the Golden Eagles stalwart defense stood tall with each Bulldawgs penalty corner.
Seneca, which finished its season on a 10-game winning streak, didnβt allow a goal in the postseason, outscoring the opposition 13-0 in three games.
βHaddonfield is a great opponent,β Cassidy Strittmatter, who will play next year at James Madison University, said of a Bulldawgs program that had appeared in five straight state championships (including two wins) in the last five seasons.Β Β
βWe just showed up today and worked super hard,β Strittmatter continued. βWe played like it was our state championship. It was our sectional championship, but it means just as much to us because we were given the opportunity to play our last game together, we knew it, everyone else knew it. We just put everything out there for each other.β

A year earlier, Seneca had also cruised to a sectional title (outscoring three opponents 18-0) before knocking off West Deptford in the state semifinals and then roaring back from a 3-0 deficit before falling to North Jersey power West Essex in the Group 2 state championship game. It was Senecaβs third straight loss in a state championship game.
This yearβs Seneca team was built to get over that hump. Instead, they got over the disappointment of not competing for a state title quickly and focused instead on what they could accomplish.
The only blemishes on Senecaβs schedule this year? A one-goal loss to Shawnee, a tie to Camden Catholic (one of the top five teams in the state), and a 4-2 loss to national power Eastern. The latter was the closest anyone played to Eastern in 2020.
If Senecaβs arrival as a force to be reckoned with in South Jersey wasnβt loud enough in the last four seasons, they changed that on Friday in Haddonfield with a workmanlike, complete effort from the first whistle to the last.
βIt felt like a state championship,β said Quagliero, who will continue her field hockey career at West Chester University. βGoing in, we said weβre going to play this like it is a state championship. And I feel like we did. We played like it was going to be the last game weβd ever play.β
Β βWe were always saying this year is our year,β said Webb, who will play lacrosse at Kennesaw State. βAnd through all of the (COVID) changes, weβve all accepted it and moved forward. We knew this was the goal, to win sectionals. And it feels good to finally get it. Itβs bittersweet because we canβt do it again, but Iβm so glad we ended on this.β