Young squad comes within a victory of reaching the postseason in first year.
By: Kyle Moylan
The destination may have been a bit off target, but the ride sure was fun.
With its 10-9 loss to Rancocas Valley this past Monday, the New Egypt High School girls’ lacrosse team fell to 7-9-1 on the year and was eliminated from a chance of making the state playoffs.
"Looking at our record for a first-year team, it looks great," noted New Egypt Coach Dayna Mennen. "I’m kind of disappointed because we could’ve made the state tournament.
"It’s disappointing, but at the same time we are so young. We have something to shoot for. We’re getting a feel for what we need to do to be competitive."
Two more goals against Rancocas Valley would’ve been nice. Megan Smit scored 3 goals, Sierra Havens 2 and Megan Magnotta, Melissa Levenduski, Kate Kurylo and Mallory Ossowski added 1 each. New Egypt led 9-8 late in the contest, but Rancocas Valley scored the final two goals. The game-winner came with less than a minute to play.
Ossowski scored 6 goals, Magnotta 4, Smit 2 and Jen Wysong, Julie Bitner and Kurylo 1 each as New Egypt had kept its playoffs hopes alive with a 15-6 win over Lower Cape May last week. Before the win over Lower Cape May, New Egypt had lost a 10-3 game to Cherry Hill West and by a score of 16-4 to Collingswood. Smit had 2 goals in each of the losses.
New Egypt was scheduled to play Ocean City Wednesday. It will also face off against Maple Shade on Friday. Wins in both those games would allow New Egypt to finish the season at .500. Quite an accomplishment for a first-year team.
Heck, just being in the running to make the state tourney this late into the season was pretty good.