Falcon girls hope to be peaking at the right time BY DOUG McKENZIE Staff Writer Peggy McKean is glad her Monmouth Regional field hockey team has puts itself in a position to qualify for both the Shore Conference and state tournaments. She is not, however, satisfied. “I thought we’d be a little better, but we’ve lost a couple of games we should have won,” the eighth-year coach said. The Golden Falcons, the preseason pick to win the Shore’s Class B North division, entered the week at 6-4-1, with a game against Wall Township scheduled for Tuesday. Although they haven’t quite played like the division’s best team (that distinction goes to 10-0-1 Freehold Township), they’ve been far from pushovers. In fact, they gave the Colonials all they could handle on Friday, before dropping a 1-0 heartbreaker. “We were tied 0-0 with them until the 1:54 mark in the game, when they got the game-winner,” McKean said. “But we lost 5-0 to them the first time, so we played much better.” In fact, several of the Falcons’ losses have been close ones. “We’ve lost a lot of very close games this year,” the coach said, adding that she thinks those close games will help her team in postseason play. Led by the play of seniors Melissa Katz, Darallyn Sanchez and Michelle Jones, as well as junior Kelly Thompson, the Falcons have shown vast improvement from last year’s squad, which finished the year 3-11-2. “We’re scoring a lot more this year, and we’ve already surpassed our win total, so I’m pleased about that,” the coach said Katz has emerged as one of the better keepers in the Shore, and has recently committed to continue her playing career at Michigan State University. Sanchez is the sweeper, and is another player that sets the tone for the defense. Jones, a midfielder, and Thompson, a forward, have done much of the scoring from Monmouth, which poses a bit of a dilemma for McKean. “We’ve played well defensively, but we’ve had problems scoring,” she said. “There’s only so long that your defense can hold on for you. We need to work on our ability to finish plays and to put the ball in the cage.” McKean added that she’s seen some very positive signs from her girls in recent games. “In the past I’ve had teams that started out fast then slowed down at the end of the year,” she said. “But I’ve also had teams that started 0-4 and went on to win the next nine games. I think that’s what starting to happen here.” If indeed the Falcons have picked this final stretch of regular-season games to peak, they may just make that preseason prediction look a little better. Nobody wants to play the hot team in tournament play. Monmouth Regional may be that team over the next few weeks.