HoVal girls team learns from loss to Notre Dame

Hopewell Valley girls lacrosse

By: Jim Green
   Sometimes losses can be as helpful as wins.
   The Hopewell Valley Central High School girls lacrosse team opened the season with back-to-back easy wins over second-year programs from Lawrence and Ewing. Despite fine performances in both games, the Lady Bulldogs still needed to be tested. And they were on April 7, when they dropped a hard-fought 8-5 decision to Notre Dame at CHS.
   While the Lady Bulldogs were disappointed to suffer their first loss of the year, they came away from the game with a better idea of the areas where they needed to improve. Two days later, they put that knowledge to good use in an 11-6 home win over Northern Burlington.
   "The kids worked hard," Hopewell coach Pam Edwards said. "It’s nice to see them reap some of the rewards. We’re improving every game, which is good. We just want to keep improving."
   A sluggish start against Notre Dame left the Lady Bulldogs down 6-3 at halftime — a deficit from which they never fully recovered. They did not repeat that mistake against Northern Burlington, taking a two-goal lead into halftime and keeping the pressure up the rest of the way.
   "Notre Dame was a good test for us," Edwards said. "If we had better transition and executed better, it would have been a different game, and they knew it. It was good to see them use those fundamentals and control the game against Northern Burlington."
   Maggie Rarich had her second five-goal game of the season, while Claire Grimwood and Nicole Stevens each added three. Grimwood, who also tallied two assists, had her third hat trick of the season, bringing her total to 11 goals. Rarich and Amy Palin also had assists for the Lady Bulldogs, who ousthot Northern Burlington 23-19.
   Goalie Izzy Huston came up big, making 10 saves for her third win.
   "I thought Izzy had a great game," Edwards said. "She stopped a lot of shots."
   The key to the win was the Lady Bulldogs’ improved transition offense. Holding a 5-4 lead, Hopewell produced a five-pass sequence that moved the ball up the field, starting with Huston and ending with a goal by Stevens.
   "They can do that," Edwards said. "They just hadn’t done it before."
   In the Notre Dame game, the Fighting Irish’s Kelly Twamley was a headache for the Hopewell defense, coming up with four goals and two assists. But Edwards felt her team’s biggest weakness that day was on the offensive side.
   "Part of the problem was that we did not maintain an attack," she said. "They kept coming down, and we got frazzled. Then we called a timeout, and they settled down. It was a different game in the second half."
   Grimwood and Palin each had two goals, while Rarich added one. Mary Kate Mannix had an assist, and Huston made 10 saves.
   On Tuesday, the Lady Bulldogs dropped a 15-13 decision to cross-town rival Pennington. Hopewell led 10-8 at halftime, but the Red Raiders scored the first five goals of the second half to go up 13-10 with less than nine minutes remaining.
   Rarich came back and scored three goals — giving her eight for the game — sandwiched around two by Pennington star Kylee Rossi, cutting the deficit to two with 1:30 remaining. But Pennington goalie Julie Strauss, who finished with 12 total saves, came up with two key stops on one last Hopewell rush, preserving the Red Raider win.
   Grimwood had four goals and an assist, while Huston made 10 saves for the Lady Bulldogs, who were ousthot 29-27.
   "I think as a team we kept it up out there," Rarich said. "At the end, we were pressing hard."
   Rarich, who now has 20 goals through five games, took it upon her shoulders to try to bring her team back in the second half.
   "I hope that nobody thinks I’m doing it for myself," she said. "I’m doing it for my team. I didn’t want to lose."
   The Lady Bulldogs (3-2) next will face Princeton at 4 p.m. today (Thursday) at CHS. The Little Tigers won last season’s meeting 10-8, and another close game is expected this time around.
   "The kids are ready to play," Edwards said. "We were pretty much head-to-head with them last year. We’ll hopefully have a good showing. We’ve worked hard on attack and hard on defense."