North Jersey field hockey star, a Rutgers commit, honed her skills in an unusual way

Krista Lilienthal is at peace inside her small Riverdale garage.

It's an unusual place for a high school athlete, but not much is common about the Pompton Lakes' field hockey star.

Her family lined the floor with 21 yards of turf to extend her training hours into the night. A speaker and some LED lights help illuminate her private workouts.

For Lilienthal, it's a home office and a sanctuary wrapped into one.

"It's really made me so much better," Lilienthal said. "If I have a bad game, I go down there and hit the ball a bunch of times and listen to music. I get out and I'm done. It's over. I go to bed and I feel good."

Bad games are few and far between for the junior midfielder committed to Rutgers.

Lilienthal is an artist on the ball whose blistering shot can intimidate opposing goalies – and sometimes, her own teammates. She finished as the top scorer in North Jersey last year with 45 goals, helping the Cardinals repeat as Passaic County champions.

While impressive, those numbers only tell a part of the story. Her ability to break up a pass gets some of the loudest cheers from the Cardinals sideline.

"Krista's field hockey IQ is not the same as most juniors in high school," coach Tina Brindisi said. "It's not the same as most collegiate athletes. She's been around this sport her entire life and she's constantly surrounded by people who are heavily involved in the field hockey community."

Lilienthal comes from a sports-minded family. Her dad, Sven, is the athletic trainer at Butler High School and her mom, Rebecca, doubles as her club coach. Krista wants to major in business and get into the entrepreneurial side of sports.

Lilienthal became a student of the game at a young age, watching whatever field hockey she could find on Youtube or ESPN+. She thinks back to all the times when she tagged along at her mom's practices and hung around older athletes.

Now it's her turn to mentor the players around her.

"She's always there to direct everyone on the field," Pompton Lakes junior Sophia Torticill said. "When someone else makes a bad play, she lifts them up. It's more than just her skillset. She's a good teammate too."

Lilienthal has proven to be a big-game player since the start of her career. She scored the winner in the county final as a freshman and sophomore, and was the starting shortstop for the Cardinals' softball team that won a county title last spring.

Just about all that's left to accomplish is bring a sectional field hockey title to Pompton Lakes for the first time since 2010. The window is open for the Cardinals, who return nine starters from a team that broke the program record for goals in a season.

"These girls are like my family at this point," said Lilienthal, the two-time North Jersey Player of the Year. "I've known the seniors now since I was 7 years old and I've been playing field hockey with them for so many years. It's so exciting to be able to play with them in a setting that's so much fun."

Lilienthal also has some personal history at stake. If she keeps up her current pace, she'll pass Danielle Allan (144 goals) as the program's scoring leader early next year. That can provide a little extra incentive when Lilienthal goes into her garage for some 1-on-1 time or with teammates.

Her mom found the idea for turf on Instagram and bought some without the tiny pebbles that invade cleats and kitchens around North Jersey.

"Thank God," Lilienthal said. "I think my mom would kill me if I tracked in more of those into our house."

Lilienthal said she goes into her personal lab around two or three times a week and often for 45 to 90 minutes.

Instead of weaving around defenders, she uses her little sister's goalie equipment to create an obstacle. Having a next-level shot can be a blessing and a curse.

"I have broken a window," Lilienthal said. "My dad was not happy with me. But he was like, 'I can't be mad at her. It was a good shot'."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Krista Lilienthal: Pompton Lakes field hockey star is a Rutgers commit