HHS girls remain confident after loss

Lacrosse ladies answer with first victory

By: Rudy Brandl
Rudy BrandlSports Editor
   
   The Hillsborough High girls’ lacrosse team certainly wasn’t satisfied after its 10-9 loss at Bridgewater-Raritan in last week’s season opener. However, the competitive nature of the game showed the Lady Raiders they could defeat a team that dominated them in both meetings last spring.
   "Everyone left the game feeling that we can now play with them and beat them," HHS head coach Beth Murrin said. "They’re not the better team. We’re the better team. They’ve got three players and they got it done. When we left that field, we wanted to play them again tomorrow."
   The Lady Raiders will have to wait until the Somerset County Tournament, when they could get a rematch with the Panthers. If that matchup ever materializes, lacrosse fans should hope it has the same drama as last week’s game under the lights at Basilone Field.
   B-R scored first but Hillsborough netted the next three goals to take a 3-1 lead. The Panthers tied it but HHS owned a 4-3 edge at the half. The game was tied at almost every score in the second half before the Panthers won it on center Megan Fenton’s sixth goal of the game with 2:30 to go in regulation.
   While Fenton led all scorers in the game, Murrin felt the play of B-R goalkeeper Kim Imbesi was key. The B-R senior, an experienced veteran, made 13 saves to help her team win despite the fact that Hillsborough had the advantage in shots.
   "She’s one of their key players," Murrin said. "She stopped fast breaks and stopped us right in front of the cage. She is their big difference right now."
   Hillsborough sophomore Lauren Griggs is coming along nicely in her first year in the varsity cage, but it takes time to develop into a top-notch stalwart like Imbesi. Griggs made 10 saves against B-R.
   Ali DeLuca gave the Raiders their last lead at 9-8 with five minutes remaining and led the attack with four goals and three assists. Katie Marino scored twice and Caitlyn Glowacki had a goal and two assists. Krystina DeLuca and Kristen Watts provided the other goals.
   "We’ll probably see them again at counties," Murrin said. "We all went there feeling we should have won. We took another step. Two years ago, we got annihilated. Last year, they got away from us. This year, we led the majority of the time."
   Hillsborough stormed into the win column in Thursday’s home opener, defeating Immaculata by a 12-4 margin on the grass field. The Lady Raiders will play several games on the new turf stadium field, but opened on their old surface.
   Krystina DeLuca scored three of her five goals in the first half when HHS opened an 8-3 lead. Ali DeLuca opened the scoring but Immaculata tied the game briefly before Krystina netted a pair to send her team off and running.
   Ali DeLuca and Watts each scored twice, while Marino, Liz Tafaro and Alexa Monahan rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece. Ali DeLuca and Danielle Iwanechko contributed assists and Griggs made 12 saves for her first victory in the cage.
   "We wanted to get that first W," Murrin said. "We’ve got to use that loss to fuel us the rest of the season. We have to use every game as a stepping stone back to that game against Bridgewater and Hunterdon Central. We have to put the intensity into our game and make sure we step up."
   Hillsborough (1-1) was scheduled to play at Somerville and host Old Bridge and North Brunswick this week.