VIDEO, PHOTOS: Large group of loyal seniors has helped build winning culture for surging LCM field hockey team

Posted: October 1st 2026

Seven seniors lead a Lower Cape May Regional High School field hockey team that has won seven straight games. They include (from left): Hailey Serra, Madi Sharp, Nelle Verity, Ava Samaniego, Marla Groetsch, Brooke Robinson and Greta Shepanski.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

ERMA – In their first three seasons in the program, the seniors on the Lower Cape May Regional High School field hockey never experienced a winning season. The team won six games in each of the past three seasons, finishing below .500 each time.

They’ve stuck together through those challenging times, and now they’re reaping the rewards for the loyalty they’ve demonstrated to the program and to each other.

Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Our Lady of Mercy Academy was the seventh straight for a Lady Tiger team that is now 8-2 through 10 games and has a legitimate chance to win the Cape-Atlantic National Conference title.

“I feel like this group deserves it because of how they play together because they’ve become such a close unit,” said Maddie Craig, Lower’s co-head coach along with JoAnn McLaughlin. “They work so hard together, and I think their success is a reflection of that.”

Craig and McLaughlin are in their first season as co-head coaches, taking over for previous longtime head coach Anne Bracken, who has stepped into an assistant coaching role in the program. McLaughlin had been a longtime assistant under Bracken, while Craig had been coaching the middle school team at Richard M. Teitelman School. Both are former standout players at Lower.

This season’s Lower team has been led by its seven seniors – right forward Marla Groetsch, defensive center midfielder Brooke Robinson, right midfielder Hailey Serra, center midfielder Madi Sharp, left midfielder Ava Samaniego, left forward Greta Shepanski and left back Nelle Verity.

The other starters include sweeper Leks Domanowski, right back Liz McHugh, center midfielder Chloe Samaniego and goalkeeper Taylor Steitler. All four are juniors.

Other varsity contributors include junior Addie Bada and sophomore Elsa Shepanski.

Greta Shepanski leads the team in scoring with seven goals. Sharp has five and Bada and Chloe Samaniego each have three. Ava Samaniego leads the team with five assists. Steitler has posted four shutouts in goal, three of which have come in the last four games.

Against OLMA, Groetsch opened the scoring midway through the first quarter before Robinson doubled the lead with just 11 seconds to go in the half by scoring on a penalty stroke after a teammate was taken down from behind while advancing the ball through the scoring circle.

Although Lower failed to score in the second half, the Lady Tigers created many chances while doing well to limit OLMA’s drives into the final third of the field.

One of the keys to the team’s success, the coaches said, has been its chemistry. Most of the players have been playing together since middle school.

“We both know all these seniors and the whole team pretty much since they’ve been in the sixth grade,” McLaughlin said. “Maddie coached them in middle school and then I’ve coached them here, so it’s been really fun watching them come together like this.”

Lower had a slow start to the season, losing two of its first three games. The Lady Tigers avenged one of the losses when they defeated Egg Harbor Township last week. They’ll try to do the same when they host Cedar Creek, to whom they lost by a 2-1 scoreline on the road on Sept. 8.

“It was super challenging going up there on the first day of school and having to play them on (artificial) turf and deal with the heat after not really getting to practice on turf. It was a tough spot for us,” McLaughlin said. “Maybe we can have an advantage playing them at home on grass. They’re a very strong team, but we’ve been working hard and we’ll see if we can finish on top.”

A win Friday would put Lower Cape May in a position where it would control its own destiny in an effort to win the CAL National title.

“I’m so stoked for them, but we’re focusing one day at a time,” McLaughlin said. “The most important thing is just to try to win the next game. If we do that, things will fall into place for us and we can have a chance to win the division.”

Craig agreed.

“The focus now is just staying strong and continuing to play together and refine the small things we need to work on,” she said. “If we stay together and have a strong mindset, I think we can keep doing well.”