December 4, 2002
Observations from the sidelines
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
Has the Cape-Atlantic League ever had a coach more consistently successful in NJSIAA competition than
Ocean City’s Trish LeFever?
In the last six years, her field hockey teams have won five state championships, losing in the South Jersey
final the other year. At a school that has had some outstanding coaches, her record is one of the best.
Her teams are 343-64-47 and have qualified for the state tournament 19 straight years. Five of the last six
years her teams have won 20 or more games, two of them finishing undefeated. Only once in her 21
seasons as head coach has she had a losing team, and that happened 19 years ago.
Former OCHS field hockey players are making significant contributions right now at Princeton, Ohio State,
Stanford, Boston University and with the USA National Team. Another is the head coach at Ball State.
And, with players like Nikki Hinsley, Gwen Hunter, Kelsey Nickles and Krista Bordogna returning next fall,
the impressive streak seems far from over.
THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING, one of the Cape-Atlantic League’s greatest figures died.
Joe Mohr was an outstanding athlete at Egg Harbor High School (not to be confused with Egg Harbor
Township) and then returned to the school after World War II to become a founding father of the CAL in
1949. He coached three sports at Egg Harbor and served as athletic director.
Later, Mohr coached basketball and tennis at Oakcrest where he also served as athletic director. He
doubled as athletic director at both Oakcrest and Absegami when Gami first opened and shared the same
building with Oakcrest.
Mohr was an unassuming guy with a warm smile. You could never surmise from his soft-spoken
personality that he was such a major force in the Cape-Atlantic League.
We are all better off because of our association with Joe Mohr.
LAST YEAR WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST girls basketball seasons in CAL history. And many of the
girls who made it so good are already making contributions on the next level.
Monica Johnson (Wildwood) averages just under eight points per game and is third on the Seton Hall team
in assists and steals. Jen Daniels (Holy Spirit) scored 11 points in her first pre-season game and is
averaging just over three points a game for George Mason. Incidentally, Jen and Monica will face off again
when George Mason hosts Seton Hall on Dec. 29.
Shaune McLaughlin (Mainland), the daughter of Ocean City coach Paul McLaughlin, is averaging just
under five points per game and is third on the LaSalle team in assists. Kim Ordille (Holy Spirit), an Ocean
City resident, has played in all three games for Division I Manhattan. And Kristy Costa (Absegami) is
averaging just over three points per game for McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland) in three
games.
They aren’t putting up the same numbers they did in high school yet but these five young women are
beginning careers that will remind all of us how fortunate we were to be able to watch them all play at once
in the Cape-Atlantic League.
Here’s ONE MORE ITEM from the college front.
Penn State defeated William & Mary in mens soccer, 1-0, in overtime Sunday to advance to the Final
Eight of the NCAA tournament. Guess who scored the only goal?
You got it. Sophomore Chad Severs, the greatest scorer in South Jersey history and the Flagship Award
winner for 2000-01, scored his 17th goal of the season and his seventh game-winner.
Penn State faces UCLA Saturday in Los Angeles during the quarter-final round of the tournament. A win
there and the Nittany Lions will head for the NCAA College Cup Championship on Dec. 13-15. The College
Cup will be held at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, TX.
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