Teams play for higher purpose – supporting cancer patients and their families
OCEAN CITY – The Oct. 29 field hockey game between Ocean City and Lower Cape May Regional high schools was a tune-up for the sectional tournaments this week, but it had meaning beyond the competition.
The Caper Tiger and Red Raider girls faced off in a contest in which LCMR scored first and Ocean City came back to win 4-1. All the players and coaches came together before, during and after for a more common purpose – a Pink Game to support breast cancer patients and their families and to remember “Coach H,” Mikenzie Helphenstine.
RELATED: SEE PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE PINK GAME
Through the Pink Hair initiative, the Ocean City School District raised $11,588 in October – national Breast Cancer Awareness Month – for the local Cancer Support Community. A check was presented before the start of the game as teams got together for a joint photo.
The game saw the girls on both teams wearing pink T-shirts honoring Coach H with the slogan, “’til we can’t.” Many of the Red Raider girls had their hair colored pink and many of the Caper Tiger girls had pink paint on their faces and sparkles on their skin.
“I’m so happy that this was a game with us,” LCMR head coach Joann McLaughlin said. “Mikenzie was amazing, especially as a coach. She did so much for the youth lacrosse and field hockey programs.
“I just think it’s really important to have her legacy live on,” McLaughlin said. “I was just telling the girls before the game about who she was and how important of a role she played in both field hockey and lacrosse in Ocean City. It’s honestly why they are as successful as they are.”
Helphenstine was a teacher at Ocean City Primary School and a coach in high school and youth sports. She battled cancer for years before succumbing on May 4, 2022.
“The game itself is keeping her legacy alive, just remembering her for who she was,” Ocean City head coach Carole Williams said. Although Williams barely overlapped teaching with Helphenstine, starting in the district in April 2022, they knew each other from years earlier.
They both graduated in 1997 with Helphenstine (then Custer), playing for Ocean City and Williams playing for Cumberland Regional High School.
“I knew her from when we played together. She and I are the same age. We played against each other in high school,” Williams said.
“She was a top competitor. We always had a good game.”
In the off-season, former OCHS head coach Trish LeFever used to coach the Futures program. “Mikenzie and I were there … for a few years. We were kids together. That was a nice memory,” Williams said.
She also got to know Mikenzie’s mother, Jane Custer, and said she is glad she still comes to the games. “I love seeing her around,” Williams said, noting her own mother is named Jane. She lost her mother to colon cancer less than 2 years ago. She still struggles with that, not having her in the stands.
“You know, everybody talks about being touched by cancer. It’s like you’re not touched,” Williams said. “You’re hit with it like a brick wall.”
The coach reached out to McLaughlin at the beginning of the season and asked her to bring her team to the Pink Game at the end of October. Williams noted they had gone two years ago to Lower’s game supporting Morgan’s Message, an education program that gets students to advocate for student-athlete mental health.
She said Lower’s team was very supportive of her Ocean City team and they wanted to do the same for them, providing T-shirts for all and having them stay for pizza and socializing after the Pink Game.
“That’s the point, to play for something bigger,” Williams said.
“It’s an incredible month … seeing the level of participation from preK all the way up to high school,” said Ocean City Superintendent of Schools Brian Latwis, who was at the Pink Game. “I think it is something really special. This is an initiative that is near and dear to my heart. I’ve had family impacted by this so when Jane (Custer) originally approached me with this a couple months ago, I was all in from the beginning.
“This is fantastic. It’s incredible, it’s magical,” Latwis added. “The amount of money that’s raised for this in a few weeks is truly special and I think really does honor the memory (of Mikenzie). And you know, I couldn’t be prouder.”
“This was the kids,” Custer said. “They do so much of the work with the supervision of many wonderful helpers, the adults with them. But this is all the kids and it goes to such a cause, it’s going back to kids. It’s going to support kids who have families going through cancer.”
“We want everyone to know that you don’t fight this disease alone. We never want anyone to fight it alone,” Custer said. “Mikenzie didn’t and she would never want anybody to be by themselves.”
The Pink Game and
sectional tournament
Addison Bada scored first for the Caper Tigers in the Pink Game.
Ocean City’s Rose Marczyk scored in the second quarter, Madelyn Brown in the third and fourth quarters and Stevie Wright in the fourth for the 4-1 final score.
“I’m sure people are looking at our schedule this week seeing St. Joe’s and Ocean City in the same week, but I think it’s really good for the girls to play top caliber teams in order to get better as a program,” McLaughlin said.
“We’re really excited. We have a home state (tournament) game for the first time in a long time,” McLaughlin added about the sectional tournament.
“We also just played St. Joe’s (Academy) two days ago, and the girls played amazing from the first whistle to the last whistle, the goalie all the way up to our girls off the bench. I’m super proud of them.
“Even though we lost, it’s just really exciting to see them work together and just play hard against a really good team,” she said.
St. Joe’s beat Ocean City 2-1 in the final of the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament and has a record of 16-1, tops in the CAL. The Wildcats’ only loss came to West Deptford, 5-3.
St. Joe’s jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Caper Tigers scored a goal in the second quarter and the game was scoreless in the third quarter. Both teams scored in the fourth for the 4-2 final. Greta Shepanski and Chloe Samaniego earned the goals for the Caper Tigers. LCMR goalie Taylor Stiteler made 24 saves in the game and the Lower girls forced two St. Joe’s goalies to combine for 20 saves in the offensive slugfest.
With the No. 8 seed, the Lower girls hosted No. 9 Bordentown Monday. They beat Bordentown 1-0 on an overtime goal by Brooke Robinson after the teams finished regulation in a scoreless tie. On Wednesday, Nov. 4, the girls, now 12-5-1, travel to No. 1 seed Shore (20-2-1).
Williams was happy with how her team played against LCMR with key players Casey Adamson and Marley Dwyer not available.
“They are two girls we depend upon heavily,” Williams said. “We were able to move things around and … they were able to fill those roles. Rose Marczyk, I move her all over the place, but threw her out on the wing and she scored a goal. It’s nice to be able to see them play different roles.”
“Cape May’s got a really good record this year and still being able to beat a good team speaks a lot for us going into the playoffs,” she said.
Ocean City, the No. 9 seed in the Group II South Jersey tournament, traveled to No. 8 seed Delsea on Tuesday, after the newspaper’s sports section went to press. They were practicing on the grass at Ocean City Intermediate School because Delsea has a grass field. The Red Raiders have been playing on turf at both Carey Stadium and Tennessee Avenue.
