Girls lacrosse
By: John E. Powers
An 0-5 start to their season seems like ancient history now for the Hopewell Valley Central High School girls lacrosse team. Winning five of six games will do that for a young and building team.
Now, with a win at Hunterdon Central next Tuesday, Lady Bulldogs coach Sara Wagner’s team will qualify for the upcoming state tournament.
"We’re aiming to make the states," Wagner said. "It would be a great experience for our kids to make it. It’s everything you point to at the start of the season. It’s something we could build on for next year."
The Lady Bulldogs lost to Princeton Day 15-10 last Monday, but recovered by beating East Brunswick 9-4 last Wednesday and Stuart Country Day 18-8 last Friday. The Lady Bulldogs are 5-6 and need to reach .500 to make the states.
Allison Moriarty had four goals and two assists in the East Brunswick win, while Caitlin Lane and Alissa Molinelli had two goals and an assist. Lane had seven goals against Stuart Country Day and Moriarty added five goals and five assists.
Goalie Erika Templeton, a sophomore, made nine saves of 13 starts against East Brunswick, and then split time with freshman Izzy Huston against Stuart.
"I think the improvement can be attributed to a mixture of putting a lot of pressure on the ball in midfield, and we’re playing a lot smarter and aggressively in defensive transition," Wagner said. "Everybody is in shape now. Everybody knows where they are going in terms of what our style is. The communication has been great."
Alyssa Briody had four goals and two assists to lead host Princeton Day to the victory over the Lady Bulldogs last Monday. The Panthers took a five-goal halftime lead and hung on for the win. Meg Kerwin and Katie Weber each added a hat trick for the winners. Molinelli (four goals, one assist) and Moriarty (three goals, two assists) led Hopewell.
"We expected to win the games against Stuart and East Brunswick," Wagner said. "But with a young team you’re not sure how you’re going to come out and play. Honestly, we can’t go into any game overconfident now, no matter which team we’re playing. We don’t have the same type of team and the same kind of skills we had last year."
Last year, the Lady Bulldogs finished 15-3, were ranked as high as 10th in the state in some polls and knocked off Hunterdon Central 7-5. That was before graduation took a heavy toll on the team. Hunterdon Central started this week with a 6-2 record and a 26th state-ranking, about 24 better than Hopewell Valley.
"It’s interesting that our state hopes come down to Central," Wagner said. "It’s a good rivalry, we beat them last year, but both teams are different this year. You never know what will happen, but you hope for the best."

