Team avenges only defeat, makes history
By: Rudy Brandl
BERNARDS Hillsborough High senior lacrosse star Krystina DeLuca later admitted she nearly cried when her sister Ali received a second yellow card and subsequent ejection from Sunday’s Somerset County championship game.
Things looked bleak when the team’s leading scorer was sent to the bench with 21:44 remaining in the game and the Raiders clinging to an 8-7 lead. But the HHS girls didn’t cry, they didn’t panic. They elevated their game and captured the school’s first county lacrosse title.
Hillsborough (17-1), in just its fifth year of varsity competition, avenged its only loss of the season with a most satisfying 11-9 triumph over Bridgewater-Raritan. It was the team’s 17th consecutive victory and first ever against the perennial county kingpins.
"We’ve been working three years for this," a jubilant HHS head coach Beth Murrin said during the post-game celebration on the Ridge High turf. "We’re proud of everything they did. We wanted to play as a team and we did that. No matter what they faced, they just kept working. It was absolute intensity for 50 minutes."
The victory was sweet on so many levels, not the least of which was the fact that the HHS girls proved they could beat a top-notch team without one of their best players.
"Having my sister kicked out of a championship game made me want to cry," Krystina DeLuca said. "I was almost going to lose it. I told (Caitlyn) Glowacki we had to pick it up. We wanted to win a county title."
The Raiders remained calm when Ali DeLuca received her second yellow card of the contest very early in the second half. They had already overcome some adversity in the game, taking an 8-7 lead after falling behind 4-1 on four straight B-R goals in the first half. The team was in control of the game but DeLuca’s departure obviously gave Bridgewater hope.
"Everyone just knew they had to step it up a level," Murrin said. "They had already picked it up a level and then they picked it up another notch."
Hillsborough’s senior tri-captains wouldn’t allow the lead to be relinquished. In fact, they expanded it to a four-goal cushion before B-R scored twice while the HHS girls were in their stall game.
The next score in a one-goal game is always pivotal and Glowacki provided it with a swift cut to the cage and hard shot past B-R goalkeeper Kim Imbesi with 13:30 to play. Glowacki also controlled the ensuing face-off and that possession led to a huge goal by Krystina DeLuca.
"We all realized we had to step it up," Glowacki said. "The defense, the midfield, everybody had to do it. We all just did it together. We had to win as a team."
DeLuca and Glowacki scored off free position plays to give the Raiders a comfortable 11-7 lead. DeLuca’s third goal of the game came with 12:14 to play and Glowacki completed her hat trick with 8:18 showing on the clock. Glowacki changed her free position tactics to beat Imbesi.
"Whenever I have a free position, I usually just shoot it hard and I don’t run in," Glowacki said. "I know Kim can stop hard shots so I ran in and put it low."
While Glowacki and DeLuca were expanding the lead, fellow tri-captain and four-year varsity player Erin Poulter stabilized the vastly improved defense in front of sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Griggs. Poulter and her teammates realized B-R standout Megan Fenton would score her share of goals, but they also understood that team balance would prevail over the output of one player. Fenton led all players with five goals, but Hillsborough boasted five different scorers.
"One girl can’t carry a team," Poulter said. "We were expecting her to score, but we thought we could hold everyone else. It was our team against their one-man effort."
The Raiders were balanced on offense in this victory. Ali DeLuca fired in two goals in just a little over one half of action. Liz Tafaro made an impact with two pretty goals in the first half that turned a two-goal deficit into a 5-5 tie. Tafaro connected off a wide angle with a slick shot and later rushed from around the back of the net and fired one home just before getting clobbered by a B-R defender.
Bridgewater briefly regained the lead but Krystina DeLuca scored off a counterattack and nice feed from Katie Marino to tie the score at 6-6 with 11 seconds remaining in the half. DeLuca opened the second half with her second goal and fellow senior Kristen Watts made it 8-6 on a nifty jump shot that bounced high into the cage.
The HHS defense, spotty at times in the first half, clamped down and protected the lead. Griggs made two big saves, one on a Fenton blast, within five minutes of DeLuca’s red card. The Panthers could have tied the score during that time, but Griggs was a wall in the Hillsborough cage. Point Chrissy DiClemente, cover point DeNapoli and defensive wings Danielle Iwanechko and Nikki Smartt aided the defensive effort.
Fenton tried to do it all by herself in the final 10 minutes. Although she got loose for two goals, the Raiders swarmed and wouldn’t allow any more damage. Griggs stuffed her again with 7:18 to play. Glowacki checked the ball away from her to give Hillsborough possession with 3:50 to go. Chrissy DiClemente stripped Fenton of the ball with two minutes left to set up another HHS stall.
Hillsborough executed the stall fairly well. Marino and Krystina DeLuca played one particularly effective game of keepaway in the far right corner of the offensive zone. Appropriately, DeLuca held the ball for the final 20 seconds before the final buzzer sounded.
"It’s the best feeling in the world," Krystina DeLuca said. "It’s more than winning a championship. We’ve had so many firsts. I’m so happy our program has gotten to this level. It’s a great feeling."

