Girls lacrosse
By: John E. Powers
The improvement of the Hopewell Valley Central High School girls lacrosse team might not be seen in its record, but it is seen by the eyes of Lady Bulldog coach Sara Wagner.
After dropping a heartbreaking decision to Hunterdon Central last Tuesday that eliminated them from qualifying for the state tournament, the Lady Bulldogs lost three straight and are now 5-10 with two games remaining in their season.
Last Thursday, Hopewell Valley lost to Ridge 6-5 as Allison Moriarty and Kate Lincoln had two goals and an assist apiece, and Chrissy Fairbanks contributed two assists.
"Ridge is always strong, and for our girls to come out hard against them after losing that big game to Hunterdon Central says a lot about their character," Wagner said.
The team played without senior co-captain and leading scorer Caitlin Lane because she had an emergency appendectomy the night before.
"We still squandered opportunities, but all in all, it was a great team effort," Wagner said.
Alissa Molinelli had two goals in the 17-5 loss to Bridgewater-Raritan, the No. 1 seed in the North Jersey A Tournament. That was followed by a 15-7 loss Monday to West Windsor-Plainsboro North. Lincoln had two goals, while Charlotte Farewell, Maggie Rarich, Molinelli, Beth Hagerty and Nicole Stevens had single goals. Moriarty had two assists.
The Lady Bulldogs trailed Bridgewater-Raritan 6-2 at the half.
"They (the Panthers) are just a very good team," Wagner said.
Hopewell Valley came back with another strong effort in a losing effort against West Windsor-Plainsboro North.
"The second half of the North game was really positive," Wagner said. "The younger players were in most of the time and really worked well together. They had some nice passing combinations, communicated well and worked together in the transition."
Hopewell was scheduled to play Montgomery at home Wednesday. The Lady Bulldogs will play host to South Brunswick today in their season finale.

