HoVal girls team gives L’ville all it can handle

Hopewell Valley girls lacrosse

By: Jim Green
   It might not have lasted, but for nearly 15 minutes Monday the Hopewell Valley Central High School girls lacrosse team knew what it felt like to be the best squad in Mercer County.
   Maggie Rarich scored three quick goals, as the Lady Bulldogs jumped out early on Lawrenceville School and held a lead until just over 10 minutes remained in the first half. Although the Big Red’s superior depth eventually would show through, Hopewell had nothing to be ashamed of in its 17-9 loss at CHS.
   "It was good for them to see they can play that well, and they can be winning against a very good prep school," Hopewell coach Pam Edwards said.
   Rarich, whose third goal gave the Lady Bulldogs a short-lived 4-1 lead six minutes into the contest, finished with four goals and an assist. Sammy Novobilsky and Claire Grimwood also were integral to the Hopewell attack, each netting two goals. The loss was the second in a row to a strong prep school for Hopewell, which fell to Hun 16-13 on April 21. The Lady Bulldogs dropped to 5-4, while the Big Red upped their mark to 8-1.
   "We came out with the idea that we didn’t really have anything to lose," Edwards said. "That’s what we’re trying to teach these kids. You always have to play with confidence for the full game. We’re not really sustaining that."
   The confidence clearly was there in the beginning. Less than half a minute into the game, Eileen Carroll delivered a pass from behind the Lawrenceville net to Rarich, who deposited a goal for a quick lead. Two minutes later, Amy Palin concluded a fine possession in the Big Red end with a goal that extended the advantage to 2-0.
   After Lawrenceville’s Sarah Kirk scored to cut the lead in half, Rarich came up with two goals in the span of a minute and a half, the second coming on a restart following a Big Red yellow card. Ten minutes into the game, Hopewell held a surprising 4-1 advantage on the powerful prep squad.
   "We caught them by surprise," Edwards said. "I think if we would have kept our fundamentals strong, it would have been a different game."
   Lawrenceville proceeded to chip away at the lead Hopewell had built up, scoring four unanswered goals — tying the contest on a goal by Sarah Flood at the 10:03 mark and taking the lead on a goal by Nellie Morris half a minute later.
   Hopewell did not give in, though, as Rarich added her fourth goal with 7:31 left, temporarily tying the game back up. However, despite the best efforts of goalie Izzy Huston, who made three big saves and at one point came out of the goalmouth to thwart a surging Lawrenceville attacker with one-on-one defense, the Big Red closed the half on a 4-0 run, taking a 9-5 lead into the break.
   "It’s almost there," Edwards said. "We’re right at the top, but we’re just hanging there. They fought hard. I thought if we capitalized more when we had the ball and not given it right back to them a few times, it would have been different. I thought Izzy played a great game. I’m just teaching them to play with confidence. On any given day, any team is beatable."
   The Lady Bulldogs scored the first goal of the second half, as Novobilsky netted her first goal to close the gap to three.
   "I was happy to see her have that strong of a game," Edwards said. "She’s worked hard. A couple of moves she made today, I haven’t seen her make moves like that before. It was great for her to show her teammates what she can do."
   The Big Red answered with a goal at the 11:50 mark, and Grimwood tallied two minutes later to cut the deficit back to three. The Hopewell defense, led by Mo Gallagher, was superb for most of the second half, holding the Big Red to just the one goal for nearly 17 minutes. But Lawrenceville finally put the game away with a stretch of four unanswered goals in 1:25, expanding its lead to 14-7.
   "Lawrenceville had beautiful transition," Edwards said. "We need to work on our transitional defense, but there were just times when Lawrenceville’s transition was unstoppable."
   Grimwood and Novobilsky each added goals before the final buzzer, but the result had already been determined. Mary Kate Mannix and Maggie Gustafson had assists, while Huston finished with 15 saves.
   It didn’t get much easier for the Lady Bulldogs on Wednesday, as they visited Peddie.
   "If they play hard, they have it in them," Edwards said. "It’s just finding it and taking it on the field."
• NOTE: Princeton High School athletic director Eric Amkraut, who would have organized the Mercer County Tournament of girls lacrosse, said the tournament will not take place this year. He expects to run one next year, however.