Nicole Adams was pressing. The Jackson High School junior lacrosse player wanted to score her 100th career goal. She wanted to reach that milestone and put it behind her.
Adams reached the century mark late in the second half as Jackson topped visiting St. John Vianney, Holmdel, 15-3 in a nondivisional matchup Monday.
Adams took a feed from junior Katie Batiuk and beat the St. John Vianney goalie with 2:05 remaining in the game. Adams finished the game with four goals and one assist as the Lady Jaguars improved to 11-0 on the season.
Teammate Melanie Pacheco scored her 100th career goal in a 22-7 victory over Toms River East last week. Pacheco scored four goals in that game. She has a total of 19 goals on the season.
Jackson coach Lori Johnson is grateful to have offensive-minded players as the nucleus of this year’s squad.
"I’m real happy for both players," Johnson said. "It’s kind of neat and exciting that both players reached the 100th career goal mark within a week of each other. I think it says volumes about how hard both players have been working."
In the win over Vianney, Batiuk paced Jackson with five goals and five assists. Chrissie Carleton, who recently signed a national letter of intent to play at Long Island University, New York, next year, chipped in with two goals.
Pacheco, Amy Rizzo, Jen Castoro and Morgan Cwalinski each scored one goal.
The Jags led 6-3 at the half. Johnson’s players needed to solve the slow-down tactics employed by St. John Vianney in the first half.
"We didn’t play all that well in the first half," Johnson said. "They did a good job of slowing the ball down. That strategy sort of took us out of our style of play. We’re not used to teams being able to settle the ball like they did, but we were able to make adjustments in the second half to open things up a bit."
Did they ever. Jackson outscored its opponent 9-1 in the second half.
"We’ve been outplaying opponents in the second half all season," Johnson said. "It’s not unusual for us to come on late in the game."
Johnson is fortunate to have the Shore Conference’s two top scorers in her starting lineup.
Batiuk is the leading scorer in the conference with 47 goals and 33 assists. Adams is second with 45 goals and 12 assists. Both attackers leave opposing defenses scrambling in an attempt to limit scoring chances.
"I’m real lucky to have a couple of kids who have put up the numbers they have," Johnson said. "But that’s just part of the story. We have a lot of talented kids on this team who can score goals, but we also move the ball well and play solid defense."
In a 17-4 triumph over Pinelands last Saturday, both Batiuk and Adams scored four goals apiece. Pacheco and Alicia Cappacotto each contributed two goals. Jessie Prince and Rizzo had one apiece.
Goalie Sarah Kahle made seven saves.
"This game was a good opportunity to get a lot of players quality minutes," Johnson said. "I thought the kids who played did a good job of moving the ball. We played more of a possession game, but we were patient and looked for the open man."