First-Year Head Coach Megan Bosland Has Wall Field Hockey Rolling

Photos courtesy of Tom Smith: #3 Zelda Wagner, #7 Rea Cranwell, #4 Claire McGowan and #23 Megan Surgent

WALL – Megan Bosland has some huge shoes to fill as the first-year head coach of the Wall field hockey program.

Bosland took over for legendary Wall field hockey coach Nancy Gross, who retired last season after leading the program to 576 wins over the course of 47 years, as head coach after serving as an assistant under Gross for the past three years.

Under Gross, Wall captured three Shore Conference Tournament championships, 10 sectional titles and one state title in 2008 when they advanced to the Tournament of Champions final before falling to nationally ranked Eastern.

“It was nice to be able to coach with her (Gross) for a couple years to kind of get used to the way see ran a program and to learn from her,” Bosland said. “She was one of the best coaches in New Jersey, so it was nice to be able to coach under her. And now to be able to take over the program is such a great privilege.”

As a standout goalie at Montclair State, Bosland led the Red Hawks to the 2012 NCAA DIII National Championship game her senior season when she named to the NFHCA’s Division III All-American first team after posting a 0.68 goals against average while registering 11 shutouts.

Taking over a team that went 13-5-1 last season and graduated just one senior (defender Mia DiPaola) while advancing to the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II semifinals, Bosland’s transition has been seamless.

“I definitely want to make the program my own while still keeping the traditions that the program has withstood all these years,” said Bosland. “But I do want to change some things up while keeping the fun in the game, so that’s what we’re focusing on.

“We were lucky in that we graduated just one senior (from last year), so a lot of the girls are used to each other and they play club together and they work really well together,” Bosland added. “We have a pretty big senior class so it’s nice to step into the position I stepped into with still kind of having those leadership roles here and the team used to playing with each other.”

The Crimson Knights are 11-1 and 9-0 in the division so far this season with their only loss coming against Southern – ranked third in the Shore and 13th in the state – when they fell 3-2. Four of their wins have come against preseason top 10 teams including, Freehold and Ocean and Middletown North - both twice.

Wall is led by second-team All-Shore forward Zelda Wagner, who led the team with 21 goals along with 11 assists last season. She’s picked up where she left off last season having scored 11 goals so far this year with a team-leading 12 assists.

“Zelda’s been doing great,” Bosland said. “She’s been distributing the ball more this season but does still get a touch on the ball.”

All-Division forward Kiera Gill is back after recording 14 goals and 12 assists a year ago and has shown no signs of letting up with seven goals and six assists this season.

“Kiera is our go-to player when we need a nice shot from the top,” Bosland said. “She has a great game-set so she’s definitely a player that can distribute the ball and find the open girls too.”

A pleasant surprise for Bosland has been the emergence of sophomore forward Lynn Walenjus, who leads the team with 15 goals along with five assists.

“I watched her over the summer when we had summer leagues and I just had a good feeling about her,” said Bosland of her super sophomore. “She’s a sophomore so it’s either she’s got it and she’s ready to go, or maybe she needs a little more time, but Lynn has exceeded all our expectations. I’m excited to see just how good she can be in the years to come after this season.

“Zelda (Wagner) and Lynn really work well together,” added Bosland. “They really have the give-and-go down well and they find each other a lot in the circle, so it’s nice to see how well they’re working together.”

After scoring three goals a year ago, senior forward Rea Cranwell has upped her game and has already more than doubled her goal output from a year ago with eight goals and has assisted on six others after not recording an assist last season.

Cranwell scored in overtime on Wednesday leading the Knights to a 2-1 win over division rival Ocean giving them a three game lead over them and Saint John Vianney, who they’ll play on Tuesday, in the battle for the B North title.

“Rea has really, really stepped up her game,” said Bosland. “Every game she just gets better-and-better and just really has a great concept of the game. Everything you tell her to do she takes it in, thinks about it and she does it on the next play. Her and (senior midfielder) Megan Cole (1 goal, 2 assists) work really well together so it’s nice to get those give-and-go passes down the right side.”

With the loss of DiPaola on defense, senior defender and captain Taylor Popola has stepped up this season giving the Knights senior leadership in the backfield.

“Taylor was our center back but she’s better at left back because she’s such an aggressive player so we decided we didn’t want her in the back-back. We put Nicole Sestito at center back because she has an amazing hit and she can drive the ball for like a hundred yards so she’s been great if we need a big hit.”

Entering Tuesday’s match with the Lancers, Wall’s defense has allowed just seven goals and one of the biggest pieces of the equation is senior goalkeeper, Mia Kepler, who’s been stellar in the nets once again with 56 saves after recording 99 saves a year ago.

Junior Mia Ward is a solid backup behind Kepler.

Senior midfielders Paige Pieroni (1 goal, 1 assists) and Emma Brant, juniors Megan Surgent (3 goals, 3 assists) and Claire McGowan at the midfielder/defender spots and sophomore midfielder Claire Ferguson are all vital pieces to the Knights success as well.

“I definitely like what I see,” said Bosland when asked about her team’s chances moving forward. “We need to continue to work together, communicate and just have fun with it. When you’re passing, scoring and communicating good things happen.”

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