Caldwell shul kvells for two named to Maccabiah field hockey squad

by Ron Kaplan
NJJN Staff Writer

Two athletes who grew up in the same Caldwell synagogue will be reunited as members of the Maccabiah field hockey squad that will represent the United States in Israel, July 11-21.

Liz Meltzer, 20, and Jillian Carroll, 18, members of Congregation Agudath Israel of West Essex in Caldwell, have been selected for the quadrennial event, which draws about 7,000 Jewish athletes from 40 countries.

Meltzer, a Roseland resident, is a sophomore at Davidson College in North Carolina where she is a pre-law political science major. Carroll, of North Caldwell, is a freshman at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., where she expects to major in education.

In addition to the AI connection, the two friends were on the same West Essex High School team that won the State Group II High School Championship in 2002, and was ranked fifth nationally at the time.

Meltzer caught the field hockey bug in middle school. “I hated it at first. It’s hard for beginners to pick it up fast.” But her dad, Roger, encouraged her to stick it out a little longer. Father knows best. “After the fourth or fifth day, I loved it,” she admitted.

A member of Davidson’s 2003 NorPac Conference Eastern Division championship team, Meltzer received the team’s “most improved player” award as a freshman.

Carroll took up the sport in the seventh grade, after recovering from a soccer injury. Soon “my life was based around field hockey.” Carroll was named to all-Conference and all-County teams at West Essex High. She served as captain of the freshman team and received was named best offensive player.

Carroll was awarded an athletic scholarship to Quinnipiac, a Division I field hockey powerhouse in the Northeast Conference. Since she is enrolled in a five-year program — athletes are allowed only four years of eligibility — she was a “red-shirt” on the squad last season, practicing and suiting up with her teammates but not allowed to play in actual games.

Played with short curved sticks, field hockey is like ice hockey in many respects. One glaring difference is the lack of protective gear: except for goalies, players generally use only mouthpieces and shin guards, which offer little in the way of protection from a ball that can travel up to 70 miles an hour. Meltzer broke finger last season, but played through her injury.

In addition to being talented athletes, Meltzer and Carroll are committed to helping others. As a Bonner Scholar at her college, Meltzer mentors disadvantaged children at the Davidson Elementary School and traveled to the Navajo Nation reservation in Arizona last spring to perform similar services. She also teaches young players in a variety of field hockey clinics, schools, and camps.

Carroll has worked in Newark Beth Israel pediatric emergency room, Kessler Institute, and Caldwell Community Center.

Both women expressed their appreciation to the Agudath Israel community for their support.

Meltzer characterized the synagogue as “relatively small and loving community, everyone knows everyone.” She was 10 years old when her mother died and said the congregation “was there for us during a difficult time.” As a result, she and her father “try to give back as much as we can.”

Roger Meltzer was enthusiastic about the prospect of his daughter and Carroll playing together again and how it might improve the team’s chances. “[They] are very tight. They played lacrosse and ran track together, too. And hang out together off the field as well as on it,” he wrote in an e-mail. “With the exception of a few quick practices slipped in during the pre-camp tour, our USA girls won’t have much time playing together as a team. The fact that Liz and Jillian instinctively look for each other and know one another’s moves … so well and can communicate without words will be an offensive asset.”

Apart from the competition, Roger Meltzer was “very excited about [Liz] seeing Israel for the first time, of seeing in person both her religious roots and Jewish modernity side-by-side….,” he wrote.

Carroll said she was also looking forward to her first trip to Israel, and “meeting other Jewish athletes in general, and those from all over the world who love field hockey.”

In a statement, Rabbi Alan Silverstein, spiritual leader of Agudath Israel, said “It is extraordinary for one congregation to have two women…on the national team. We are extremely proud.”

Ron Kaplan can be reached at RKaplan@njjewishnews.com.