(Photo: Doug Scancarella/Special to NorthJersey.com)

Wayne Valley Field Hockey coach Katie Kraft has no difficulty remembering exactly the last time the Indians won the Passaic County championship.

Kraft was a sophomore standout on the 2002 team that won the title. She’s had a successful 11-year run as a coach with Wayne Valley (the last seven as head coach). She coached the team the Passaic County semifinals in 2012 and 2013, and to the No. 2 seed in 2016. The team also reached the state sectional semifinals in 2013 and the quarterfinals in 2012.

Championship glory, however, has escaped the team’s grasp.

This year, though, Kraft believes that she has a team in place that could take home that elusive county crown. With 14 seniors and a strong junior class, her confidence is high.

“This isn’t quite the biggest senior class I’ve had here,” Kraft said. “It is, though, an extremely tight and cohesive group. All but one have played here since freshman year. Most of them, in fact, have played together since they were in middle school. They’ve really meshed on and off the field. It’s just a nice group. There are no cliques.”

The other significant plus is that Kraft has at least one senior each line.

“That’s very unusual,” Kraft said. “A lot of times you could have a strong senior class, but you have a lot of them on the same line. This year, we have experience on every line.”

This year’s team includes 12 returning varsity players, 10 of whom are seniors. Senior Madison Phillips and junior Catie McGrath are the leading returning scorers.

Phillips scored six goals and dished out seven assists while earning first-team all-county and all-division honors. McGrath had 10 goals and five assists while earning second-team all-county and first-team all-division. Both are forwards/midfielders.

“Madison is the fastest player I ever coached,” Kraft said. “Her stick work is outstanding and she is a great play-maker and set-up player.”

“Katie is the second-fastest player I ever coached, so we obviously we have a lot of speed this year. She’s a similar player to Madison in a lot of ways.”

Senior defender Morgan Hoover also had a big year in 2016, earning first-team all-county and all-division honors.

“Morgan always does a great job of keeping our opponents best players in check,” Kraft said. 

Versatile junior Oliva Chiaramonte earned second-team all-county and all-division. She can play midfield or defense.

Two senior goaltenders, Christine Hamza (115 saves) and Mel Cartagena (59 saves), split time and will likely share time again.

Senior forward Anisha Shin, a second-team all-county performer from last year, is also back. The other returning varsity players include Hannah Sikorski, Erica Kaiser, Morgan LaSala, Christina Marini and Emily Cook.