Tartans lacrosse upsets Mo-Beard to reach Prep B final
By: Justin Feil
The Stuart Country Day School lacrosse team thought it deserved the No. 2 seeding for the Prep B state tournament, and proved it with a 10-8 win over actual second seed Morristown-Beard in the semifinals Wednesday.
"The key was just wanting it maybe more than they did," said Stuart head coach Sara Wagner, whose team improved to 9-8. "It was tied at halftime and then we came out and scored three unanswered. They came back but we spread it out and came up with some tough goals. Then we had some smarts."
The Tartans had the luxury of being able to play a possession game in the final minutes because of three huge goals to close out their effort. With 15 minutes to play, Kelly Bruvik scored her fifth goal of the game the 100th of her career.
"That was a big one," said Wagner of the sophomore’s tally. "It was our eighth goal and helped us. With 10:14 to go, we got a goal from Margaret Henry off an 8-meter and they scored with 8:29 to go."
The Tartans’ defense clamped down and allowed no further goals. The defense even got in the scoring column when Liz Colicchio raced end-to-end to deposit her second goal of the year for the 10-8 win with just over three minutes to play.
"It was an incredible goal," Wagner said. "She must have run through four girls."
It showed the desire the Tartans have to get to the final, where they have the rematch with Pennington that they have wanted. The Red Raiders will host the final 2 p.m. Sunday. Stuart lost the first meeting of the year, 9-8, but only those with short-term memory loss will have any difficulty finding motivation.
Last year, Stuart handled Pennington, 11-4, in the teams’ first meeting then lost, 11-9, in the Prep B semifinals to end their season. This year, it’s the Red Raiders who carry the No. 1 seeding while the Tartans are the No. 3 seed.
"Pennington came out a different team that second time," Wagner said. "They were much better than when we played them before. Hopefully we’re the same way and can come out and put up a big effort.
"We’re looking forward to it," she added. "It’s local, so I’m sure the fans will be there. We’ll have an easy practice (Thursday) and then get ready for Sunday."
Stuart can build off the momentum of its latest win. It was their fourth win in their last five games, and the Tartans seem to have found the formula for success. It was all the more important Wednesday as they faced a 5-5 tie at halftime.
"Each person had to find it in them to win," Wagner said. "They had to find a way to play to win. It was up to them, and that’s probably how they like it. It was in their hands."
The Tartans came through just as they had hoped. Now, they’ll try to come through one more time, this time in a rematch for a state championship.
"They can be explosive," Wagner said of Pennington. "I think we’ve become a more patient team. I think we’ll try to score off our transition a little more. We tried to go too much 1-on-1 last time."
Stuart remembers well how Pennington turned the table on them last year. They’ll try to do the same Sunday as they aim to erase that memory.
"It’ll help a little bit," Wagner said. "That’s some inspiration."

