The Blue Streaks won the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex semifinal for Murray, the former three-sport athlete who died Sept. 25 from a lacerated spleen.
His physical presence wasn’t there. But Dani Profita truly believes Evan Murray was there in spirit on Saturday morning.
Profita scored the decisive goal on a penalty stroke to give Warren Hills Regional High School’s field hockey team a dramatic 2-1 win over host Voorhees in a Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex semifinal in Lebanon Township.
Murray is a former three-sport athlete at Warren Hills who died Sept. 25 from complications of a lacerated spleen suffered while playing football against Summit High School.
Afterward, an emotional Profita said Murray is always on the minds of the Blue Streaks players.
“We basically won it for him,” said Profita, a junior forward. “Most of us were friends with him. We said the whole game that ‘We have to do it for Evan.’ He was definitely here. You could feel it.”
Warren Hills goalkeeper Jackie de Raismes had a key stop on Voorhees star Kathryn Roncoroni during the penalty strokes. de Raismes also feels the impact that Murray has had on the team since his passing.
“I didn’t personally know him, but I wanted to win it for my teammates who did,” said de Raismes, who made 13 saves. “I understand where they’re coming from and why they dedicated the season to Evan.”
Warren Hills (13-1) advances to play Hunterdon Central, which defeated Hackettstown 1-0 in the other semifinal, for the H/W/S title next Saturday at Hackettstown at a time to be determined.
The Blue Streaks avenged a 2-1 overtime loss to Voorhees (14-3) on Sept. 15, which was 10 days before Murray died. On Saturday morning, Murray essentially served as the 12th man and this time it was a much happier ending for the Blue Streaks.
Tom Hinkel may be reached at thinkel@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomHinkelLV. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook