Date: Fri 31-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

Erica-Christopher-Feature

Full Text:

feature on Erica Christopher, NHS Field Hockey Goaltender

(with photos)

BY KIM J. HARMON

Erica Christopher had always considered herself a softball player. She started

when she was little and has played ever since, from youth softball to high

school to summer softball with Legacy, a premier All-Star team based in

Southbury.

A softball player.

But after two years with the Newtown High School field hockey team, after two

years as the full-time starter, and after one year of often brilliant play

that has to reckon her as the best in the league at her position, Erica

Christopher has to consider herself something else as well.

A goaltender.

A softball player, a goaltender, a top student, a determined competitor, and a

nice person - it's a lot of stuff to handle, a lot of things to maintain, but

Erica, a senior, is more than up to the task.

"Sports in general have taught me so much." she said. "You have to work hard,

get dirty, sweat blood, to be successful. You need so much discipline. I've

noticed that since I've been playing sports it has had an effect on my school

work. It has made me a better student."

Growing Up On

The Diamond

Having a father who caught in Class AAA minor league baseball, it might seem

that Erica Christopher was pre-destined to end up wearing the so-called tools

of ignorance.

But it didn't start out that way. The game, well, that must have been in the

genes or whatever because Erica started playing softball when she was old

enough to carry a glove and swing a bat.

The catching stuff, though . . . that didn't start until she was in high

school. Throughout youth softball she played in the field. But as a freshman

at Newtown High School, the year after Dee Carroll left for Central

Connecticut State University, head coach Bob Zito was looking for a catcher to

handle his sophomore ace, Samantha Byrne.

Erica put on the pads.

And she has been wearing 'em ever since.

"It is the dirtiest part (of the game)," said Erica, "but it is where all the

action is. Every single play you have to be in there and thinking about every

pitch."

As a freshman, she hit .309 and led the team in at-bats (81) and runs batted

in (15). As a sophomore, she hit .359, once again leading the team in at-bats

(73) and runs batted in (18). As a junior, she was second on the team in

hitting (.329) and led the team in runs scored (17) and doubles (6) while

banging out 24 hits and driving in 10 runs.

Good numbers - especially for a catcher.

"It's very grueling," she said. "Especially when its the first week of

practice and you're not used to the crouching. And that 14-inning game (in the

state tournament against Stamford last season), I'll never forget it. My legs

felt like jelly afterwards."

Jelly legs and broken pinkie fingers (there have been a couple of those, along

with some busted up forefingers) notwithstanding, Erica has made herself a

success out of a position she knew little about outside of stories her father

might have told around the dinner table.

Despite all of that, in the summer, with the Legacy team out of Southbury,

Erica does not catch. That, in itself, might be the reason she feels she does

better in the summer than in the spring.

Well, that, and the competition.

"I always seem to have a better season in the summer than in the spring," she

said. "In summer, I'm facing some top pitchers so my mechanics have to be

perfect. In high school, there is a lot of room for errors when I'm facing

weaker pitching."

Joining Legacy was something of a learning experience for her. She originally

started going to practices to work with Samantha Byrne and got a chance to get

in the batting cage against some top flight pitching and thought that her

reputation as a big-time hitter in youth softball would serve her well and

after she missed every pitch thrown her way, she realized she had thought

wrong.

She kept working at it, though. With the words of her father in her ears -

"it's easy to be a star in your own backyard, but there are a lot of backyards

out there" - she kept stepping into the batting cage and turned herself into a

real hitter.

She was rewarded with a spot on the far end of the bench and, since then, has

worked her way onto the field.

It's that kind of work ethic that has turned her one of the best - if not,

arguably, the best - field hockey goaltender in the South-West Conference . .

. just a few years after volunteering to put on the pads when the Newtown High

coaches said they needed another goalie.

With a phenomenal game against Pomperaug (35 saves) and almost equally as

stellar performances against Brookfield and Joel Barlow, Erica has staked out

her territory in front of the cage and has made a statement that can not be

easily ignored.

And she loves it.

"Being in goal is sort of an adrenaline rush," she said. "There's nothing like

it. Thinking about going one on one, some girl wanting to pound on you and you

having to make the save."

Getting to this point, though, took some effort, even if she got to it in just

two years of full-time starting. Her reflexes she gained from years on the

softball diamond but the individual skills of tending goal came from clinics

and the almost tireless work she put in with former coach Lisa Poirier, who

left after the 1996 season after five years at the helm.

"I used to just go on instinct," said Erica. "But last year it changed. When

(Coach Poirier's) attitude changed, I changed."

And everything changed dramatically.

"This year I feel a lot more aggressive." she said. "Last year was my first

year (starting) and I was a little more passive. Now I feel I know the game

better and I'm more confident in telling people where they need to go."

Even with her skills, an offense that was better than it has been in years

past, and a defense that was stingier and quicker than in years past, the

Nighthawks still won just three times in 14 games, going 3-9-2 with two wins

over Bethel and one over Weston.

"The biggest thing that got me fired up is thinking that it could always get

better," said Erica. "We would go out there and we would have nothing to lose

while the other team expected to beat us. They had to beat us. But no one

expected us to win."

No one probably expected someone to make good on the field hockey field at

Newtown High School, either, but Erica attracted the attention of Nichols

College in Massachusetts and the possibility of playing on at the collegiate

level is now a distinct possibility.

"I never really considered playing in college (before)," said Erica. "This

year has opened so many doors and now there is a chance that I won't have to

stop playing."

Softball . . . field hockey - now she has two avenues to explore and both

equally as appealing.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think it could be like this," she said. "If

I can get something out of both (sports), it will be great ."