Stella Frigiola pulled on her helmet and peered through the mask during her first varsity field hockey game — a scrimmage last year against one of the best teams in New Jersey.
Frigiola, who never played field hockey until 2024, looked over at the Point Pleasant Boro players lining up for a corner. Then, the ball flew into the middle of the field and chaos erupted. Frigiola stood on her goal line, waiting to make a save.
By the time Point Pleasant Boro earned its seventh straight penalty corner, Frigiola had endured shots coming at her like pinballs.
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She didn’t let a single one past her.
For a state-medalist wrestler who first picked up a field hockey stick only a year earlier, she looked right at home in the cage.
“It was crazy, but it was a great time,” Frigiola said. “I think I knew exactly what was expected of me when I came in and I wanted to be a part of that high-level team because I like to work hard and I like to be a part of something successful.”
With Frigiola as the team’s starting goalie, North Hunterdon won the North, Group 3 sectional title in 2025. She made 85 saves in her first season as a starting goalie.
Now a senior, Frigiola has her team ranked No. 4 in the NJ.com Top 20 with an undefeated record and recently recorded her 100th career save.
“She lines up with all of our standards,” North Hunterdon coach Amy Masters said. “In a wrestling match, it is one-on-one, and then she has to do this kind of the same thing in hockey. So being able to handle that pressure, the girls really respect her.”
Frigiola’s teammates voted her to be a captain this season despite being a newcomer to an established core.
Her leadership extends beyond competition.
On the final day of summer workouts, she brought her scooter and more than 400 water balloons for a team water-balloon fight. Within minutes, the quiet field transformed into a chaotic battlefield with a colorful frenzy of splashing water and flying balloons.
“Field hockey should be fun,” Frigiola said. “All of this high school stuff should be fun. So I always want to keep it fun, especially as a captain. I’m really glad that I got to get voted and got trusted in this role to be a captain. I think it was like a really high achievement, a really high honor.”
Before field hockey, combat sports were all Frigiola knew. She started jiu-jitsu at age 6 and wrestling a few years later.
In the fall of 2024, the North Hunterdon field hockey team only had one goalie on the roster and needed a backup. Masters sought out the wrestling team for any volunteers, and Frigiola stepped up.
She was close friends with North Hunterdon star field hockey player Katie Sampson and had other friends on the team. Despite coming off a torn ACL, she didn’t hesitate.
“I was just so eager to get back into a sport,” Frigiola said. “And field hockey, funny enough, was just the closest fall sport and they needed a goalie. So I was really happy to be a part of a team again and get back into moving. I didn’t have any anxiety around it at all. It ended up being one of the best, best decisions I made.”
Her ACL recovery was a year-long process that included six months in a knee brace and no physical activity. Once she made the transition to goalie, her knee never held her back.
The first thing she had to get used to was something basic — the heavy goalie pads. Coming from wrestling, where she wore only a singlet and had complete freedom of movement, that marked a stark change.
Then came the blazing August heat. Sweat poured down under her mask. Moving her legs felt like lifting cinder blocks.
“Working through and moving all of that equipment was definitely the hardest part because I’d never been a goalie before,” Frigiola said. “I’d say after a tough week in the sun, you definitely get used to it. Wrestling is definitely a really hands-on sport, mentally, physically and it takes a lot out of you. I feel like just because I had that background mentally it was an easy transition and the pads were definitely something new.”
Once she got past the initial shock of the equipment, she learned the ins and outs of the goalie position, including finding the correct angles to take on opposing shooters and communicating with her defense.
The North Hunterdon coaching staff tried to keep things as simple as possible.
“When we coach her, we tell her to just be light on your feet,” Masters said. “Keep your feet active, just like you would in wrestling. We knew she was a good athlete. There’s a lot of technical skill involved, but there’s a big chunk of playing goalie that’s mental and wrestlers just have that.”
The successful transition does not surprise North Hunterdon girls wrestling coach Dan Pepe. He’s seen her compete at the highest level of wrestling in the state, watching Frigiola place sixth in the state at 152 pounds in her junior season.
Frigiola was the only wrestler to score a point and reach the second period in the state tournament against High Point’s Ella Poalillo, the nation’s top-ranked wrestler at her weight class.
“(Frigola) is task oriented,” Pepe said. “So if you give her a task, she’s going to do it. She’s going to do it right and she’s going to do well. The way that she goes after things, she mentally prepares herself and is ready to go at any battle. She’s never scared. She just jumps into things and she’s ready to master it.”
Frigiola is now open to wrestling or playing field hockey in college, and is interested in a service academy. She visited the United States Naval Academy over the summer, participating in physical training, attending classes and getting a glimpse of academy life.
Two years ago, she saw a team that needed a goalie. Now she’s a sectional champion, a captain and a two-sport college prospect.
Pepe has seen enough to know how she’ll approach whatever comes next.
“She’s always prepared to win,” Pepe said. “She’s always prepared for the worst to come, and preparing for the worst is what puts her at her best.”