Knights face top seed today in sectional semis
By: Justin Feil
Danielle Cifelli has been a part of all 13 of the West Windsor-Plainsboro North girls’ lacrosse team’s wins this season.
The last two, however, have been a bit more special for the senior goalie because she’s finished out both of the Knights’ state tournament wins.
"I know the real feeling of a win," said Cifelli, after stopping 13 shots in a 10-5 win over Princeton High on Thursday. "Normally, I sit at halftime. Even when we win, it’s not the same as feeling the win."
All the Knight players felt the immensity of Thursday’s win over the 21st-seeded Little Tigers, who had upset No. 12 Northern Burlington and No. 5 Old Bridge to reach the quarterfinals. The fourth-seeded Knights advance to the North A fourth round, the sectional semifinal, at top-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan 4 p.m. today. Last year, WW-PN reached the sectional semifinal in the third round.
"The fact that we made it this far is great," Cifelli said. "We lost last year after the second round. We really wanted this. There was energy when you walked out on the field."
As had happened in the regular-season matchup of the Colonial Valley Conference foes, WW-P North jumped to a 7-3 halftime lead. But unlike the team’s first meeting in which the Little Tigers stormed back to actually take the lead in the second half before the Knights won, 12-11, Cifelli and the North defense surrendered almost nothing in the second half.
"That was a big part of our pre-game discussions," said North head coach Beth Mitchell. "It’s part of the advantage of playing someone before states.
"We were frustrated. We did have a five-goal lead and Princeton did a good job sticking to it. They ended up with a one-goal lead before we came back to win. I think that helped us. If we had beat them by a couple goals, we could have been a bit lax (Wednesday). We knew we had to play every second of the game."
PHS, which ended its season 8-7, was held scoreless for more than 20 minutes in the second half and didn’t get their second second-half goal until four seconds to play when Louise Finnell scored her second of the game.
"It just got in," Cifelli said. "It was like in slow motion."
Anything else had to be going a 100 miles per hour to get by Cifelli, who drew incredulous praise from PHS head coach Joyce Jones during the game. Mitchell also thought Cifelli’s play was praiseworthy.
"Danielle was awesome," Mitchell said. "Danielle doesn’t play the whole game normally. She’s done it the last two games. The first time we played, I did take her out, but I put her back in."If a goalie has a rhythm, you have to keep her in. Especially in a state game."
Throughout the regular season, Cifelli split time with junior Christine Su. Last year, Cifelli played full games.
"We had inner competition between us," Cifelli said. "But we’re still friends. Last year, I played almost every game full. Christine stepped it up this year."
Su will enter next year as the favorite to start in goal, and she’ll have a year’s experience in finishing out games. But the focus is even more intensified on closing out this year positively as the Knights enter the North A semifinals.
"My sophomore year, we lost to Bridgewater in the second round of states," Cifelli said. "A lot of the girls who played in that game aren’t here now."
Cifelli, a back-up goalie then, thinks that the Knights are playing some of their best lacrosse of the season at the perfect time. It’ll take their best to knock off Bridgewater.
"I feel pretty confident," Cifelli said. "Our defense was really on point. And our offense always does great."
Sara Cogswell had four goals and Valerie DePelteau had three goals as the Knights built a 9-3 lead before PHS scored in the second half. Cogswell added a pair of assists. At the defensive end, Cifelli and her teammates were stalling a familiar Little Tiger offense.
"It definitely helped playing them before," she said. "I knew what kind of shots they take and we knew who could score. Everyone knew that everyone on their team could score. They don’t have just one person. That’s what kept us on our toes."
WW-P North had contributions from everyone on the team. Shannon Bulk played through a severely sprained ankle, and Mitchell noted how admirably some of her substitutes played with little notice.
"I had three girls come out at one point, all at once basically," Mitchell said. "I was just throwing people in dry off the bench. To have them come in and work their butts off was great to see. The subs did a great job."
The Knights will need another full effort as they aim for a berth in the sectional final, against the winner of Ridge-Mendham on Friday.
"It’s always exciting to get to the next step," Mitchell said. "It’s such a great step. To be able to experience this with these girls, I don’t want this to end. I truly love them.
"I think the key is to be patient," she added. "Possession will be important. Princeton was holding the ball more in the beginning of the game (as they built a 3-2 lead). We didn’t panic. We knew it was the style they’d play. We had to keep on our toes."
Once the Knights got the lead by scoring the final five goals of the first half, there was no coming back this time for PHS.
"Just the fact that the first game was so close last time," Cifelli said, "we knew we had to step it up. We knew they wanted to win against us."
It was a task made all the more difficult by Danielle Cifelli’s standout play in goal, solid play that went from the first to the last second for a state sectional victory for the WW-PN girls’ lacrosse team.