There is a lot of specialization in sports these days, at each and every level.
Steinert High field hockey coach Lorraine LaMontagne has jumped on the bandwagon, assigning a new role to senior forward Ella Salzano.
“She’s our mood stabilizer,” LaMontagne said.
Which means?
“She’s just always positive,” the coach continued. “She brings that out in other people too. You can be tough; you can be strong but she also brings that positive aspect of things to everyone else. She’s always in a good mood. At least from what I can see. That just helps everybody else be in a good mood.”
Is that true, Ella?
“I guess, yeah, from just being with my friends,” she said. “We’re all really close on the team, so we have fun out there. One day we did a drill and we made it a fun. It was me and my friend Mackenzie (Bendas). It was 2-2, I was about to win and then she tripped me, so we didn’t have a winner. We were laughing.”
But the sport is no laughing matter for Salzano when she is on the field.
Playing a key position at left wing, the senior was tied for the team lead in goals with seven and had five assists entering Steinert’s Oct. 21 game against Pennsauken. She is one of several upperclassmen on the team who came into the program with experience after playing for the Blue Star club program.
“She was already ahead of the game when she first got here,” LaMontagne said. “It’s glorious! I said ‘I can work with that!’
“I’ve been able to utilize Ella since the start and year after year she’s constantly wondering what she can do to improve herself and the team. If you want to define what hard work is, it’s what she does.”
Salzano was coaxed into the sport by her sister Elisa, who played for Steinert before graduating in 2025. From there, other future Spartans joined them in Blue Star.
“I told my friends about it and we all started playing together,” she recalled.
Elisa had a positive impact when the two played together. They would practice in the yard, but unlike most siblings, there were no one-on-one battles that led to arguments.
“We would just play around together in the front yard, pass it around to each other,” Salzano said.
At Blue Star, she played some midfield but mostly forward and was placed on the left side.
“I’m not really sure why,” she said. “I think I just got put there and stuck with it.”
LaMontagne heard from Elisa that Ella and her friends were coming and was thrilled to finally be getting some experienced players. She was even more pleased to see what position Salzano played.
“Anything on the left side in field hockey is a little harder because of the angle you have to play,” LaMontagne said. “She’s really kind of grown into that position over the years. It’s gotten to a point where it’s almost like second nature.
“Figuring out how to turn her body to position herself to be able to score and to help others score it’s something she’s really tried to focus on a lot. That and just her ball carrying skills have improved immensely from even last year to this year. She can read the field well and she goes into places that are helpful for other players to pass to, or to make space, or to get to a spot to score.”
Through games played Oct. 20, Salzano had amassed 18 career goals and 11 assists, improving her numbers each season. She had one goal as a freshman, five goals and two assists as a sophomore and five goals and four assists last season. Her approach to handling the ball is dictated by the situation.
“If I’m bringing the ball in the circle I’ll look for players to pass to,” she said, “but if our mids are bringing it up I’ll be in that scoring position on the post.”
She is modest in discussing her shot, saying she is happy with it but acknowledging that it can always improve.
“It’s never gonna be perfect. We try to get it in the back of the net however we can.”
That’s not easy from Salzano’s position. While controlling the middle of the field is always important in sports like soccer, field hockey and lacrosse, a strong player is also needed on the left.
“Because of the angle you have to play in field hockey, the left side is really important because it’s the side of the other team’s strong side,” said LaMontagne, whose team won seven of its first 14 games. “Being able to put people on the left side, you trust them to be offensive but you trust them to be defensive at the same time.
“Everybody plays offense and defense but the left side has to play it a little bit differently than the rest of the field would have to. She’s strong and she can play in the middle but the fact I can trust her on the left side is even better. Being able to just do that now instinctively has been super helpful all around.”
What’s truly impressive is Salzano’s ability to drop back and defend while also having to return to the front line. And she does it well.
“Just her stamina of being able to go back and forth could kill a lesser human,” LaMontagne said. “She is coming back and playing defense and playing positions that are gonna be helpful for our defense to be able to help get the ball out too.”
Salzano feels that the conditioning the Spartans do at every practice has prepared her for the rigors of playing the entire 100-yard field. She is also mentally strong when it comes to her sport.
“I think just reading the field, being in good positions, thinking of one step ahead will put us in a good spot,” she said.
As much as Salzano knows about the game, she always wants to learn more.
“She constantly asks me ‘What should I do? How should I stand? Where should I take the ball?’” LaMontagne said. “She constantly is reflective and takes those reflections and tries to implement them. I can tell people ‘Do this, go left or right,’ and they do the opposite. She actually listens.”
Those traits have made Salzano a team captain along with seniors Gia Graziano and Aleiya O’Neal. They have helped form a strong nucleus with Bendas and Bella Coniglio. All five are four-year varsity players.
“I think from freshman year, we’ve grown so much, and having the core of us five, just playing together for so long has set the team up,” Salzano said. “Being such good friends we all want to do good for each other. We’re hanging in there against teams we hadn’t before.”
They have gotten help from fellow seniors Ally Constance, Caitlyn Scoles, Sage Zimmerman, Nikki Donovan and standout goalie Arrabella Pizza, along with junior Jordan Bates, the team’s leading scorer. Together, they helped the Spartans win seven of their first 14 games.
“I’ve been super proud with the way we’ve been playing,” LaMontagne said. “Even when we come up short on the score sheet, we’re in games we weren’t in before and we’re hanging with teams that we weren’t able to hang with before. That type of growth is something we want to continue to feed off, not just for the rest of this season but for future seasons. It’s been fun.”
Salzano has fun off the field as well. She stays in top field hockey shape by performing all styles of dance, something she has done since she was 3 years old.
“It’s something completely different than field hockey,” she said. “I’m undecided if I want to make it a career, but I definitely want to keep dancing and not just stop after I graduate.”
Salzano is as smart in the classroom as she is on the field, boasting a 4.3 weighted grade point average. She is also in Steinert’s Teens on Fire Club, conducts food drives, participates in the Mercer Miracle League and takes part in other community-minded activities.
Looking toward the future, she is interested in attending either the Fashion Institute or Fordham University in New York City.
“I haven’t gotten a chance to tour yet,” Salzano said. “I’m gonna apply and try to build from there. I enjoy graphic design, that’s what my mom did. I want to do something like that but stay in the business industry.”
As for the business of field hockey, she said, “I don’t know if I see myself playing at college. But maybe being on a club or even helping coach or something like that.”
Maybe even serve as the mood stabilizer coach!
