LIZ BYRNE
Wayne Hills
High School,
senior forward
“That’s how we maintain our focus
and composure and all that hard
work by the girls will eventually pay
off with seeing their goals realized by
the end of the season.”
Besides its high degree of success
within the county, the Patriots are
also a perennial contender in the
North 1, Group 3 state tournament
and in the league, where they shared
a Northeast Field Hockey League
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WAYNE MAGAZINE
Division 2 championship with
Ramsey in 2014.
Londino, who is 62-15-5 in her
four seasons at the Wayne Hills helm,
has followed up in the footsteps of
her predecessor, Jenn Badami, to
maintain a strong tradition in the fall
stick sport for the Patriots. Now the
assistant principal of athletics and
student activities at the school,
Badami’s (a field hockey standout at
BACK TO SCHOOL 2016
Wayne Valley in the ’90s) teams won
two PCT titles and during her tenure
as coach from 2000 through 2011
and also won state sectional championships in North 1, Group 3 in 2008
and 2009. Before Badami, the late
Elaine Watson presided over a team
that claimed state sectional titles in
1978, 1980 and 1982 (overall Group
4 state champions with win over
Shawnee in final) and won seven
straight PCT championships from
1977 through 1983.
“We [Badami and Londino] have
very different coaching styles, but the
end result is the same and we both
have helped to carry on the tradition
of strong Wayne Hills field hockey
programs,” says Londino.
Londino credits her high school
coach, Erin Small (who just resigned
to take an assistant coaching position
at Rowan University), at Gloucester
City in Camden County, and her
college coach at William Paterson,
Lindsay Balfour, with helping her
develop a successful coaching
philosophy.
“Erin kind of gave me a little bit of
a tougher skin and really honed in on
the basics,” Londino, who is also an
LEFT: ANNE-MARIE CARUSO; INSET: CHRIS PEDOTA/THE RECORD
“Every single girl
on the team comes
to this sport with a
lot of passion and
we play with heart
for 60 minutes.”
ON GUARD Wayne Hills’ Liz Byrne puts up
a strong defense during a Lakeland game.