By: Rich Fisher
In the race to qualify for the NJSIAA girls lacrosse tournament, South Brunswick High is starting to get the fuel it needs.
After seeing the season close to slipping away, the Vikings have suddenly found some consistency. Since falling to 4-6 with a loss to Watchung Hills on April 29, SBHShas won three straight and carried a 7-6 mark into Wednesday’s game with West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
"They’ve been playing great, they’ve really come together," coach Gail DeMarco said.
The Vikings need to be .500 or better by Wednesday in order to qualify for the states for a second straight year. They hope to make up a season-opening postponement with Montgomery today (Thursday) at home, and host a first-round Greater Middlesex Conference tournament game with North Brunswick Tuesday. A victory in any of those three games will clinch a state berth.
But South is hoping for more than that as it has begun to heat up.
After losing to Watching Hills, The Vikings rebounded with an 8-6 win over East Brunswick in which they took a 6-0 lead and hung on at the end. Alana Jogan had four goals, the suddenly hot Katie Campisano had three goals and one assist and Danielle Bussiere had one goal.
That was followed with a resounding 8-5 upset over Hunterdon Central, which is usually one of the top teams in Hunterdon County.
Campisano had three goals and an assist, Jogan had one goal and one assist and Alana Asch, Bussiere, Lori Schmon and Ashley Foltiny all had goals.
"That was a great win for us," DeMarco said. "We were ahead during the whole game. There was no doubt in our girls’ minds they were going to win it. Jasmine Hemmings had an awesome defensive game in that game, and Katie Campisano was tough offensively.
"Katie had a slow start because she went away during spring break and when she came back, it was obvious she had been gone for 12 days. We worked on a few things with her, had her at first or second home in the crease and that’s pretty much how she scores. She’s always been up front, but once we kind of worked on her with the crease role, we’ve found that shot works."
The Vikings continued their roll on Monday with a 15-1 win over South Plainfield. Jogan had four goals and an assist, Asch and Foltiny each had three goals and an assist, Campisano had two goals and an assist, Bussiere had two goals, Kristen Earl had a goal and an assist and Allie Ruggerello had a goal and two assists.
While DeMarco his happy with her team’s winning streak, she feels it should be longer.
"We should have beaten Watchung Hills," she said of the 10-7 loss. "Since that game, we’ve been working on setting up on our offensive end and working on double-teaming in the offensive end and the midfield.
"Our offensive players are used to just going to goal, but now we have them doubling up if the other team gets the ball. It seems to be working."
One look at that winning streak will attest to that.
LAX LEFTOVERS: Jogan was slowed by a sinus infection for a while, and did not score a goal against either Bridgewater or Watching Hills. It was her first scoreless games of the season . . . Alex Gaudio continues to play well in goal . . . The Vikings are top-seeded in the GMCT, while Old Bridge is two, East Brunswick is three and North Brunswick four. Tuesday’s winners will meet for the finals a week from today (Thursday). The Vikes needed overtime to beat both East Brunswick and Old Bridge. "It’s going to be close," DeMarco said. "It’s anyone’s game."

