By: Rich Fisher
For anyone who thinks that Alana Jogan is the only scorer to worry about on the South Brunswick High girls lacrosse team, the Vikings may have dismissed those thoughts after their first two games.
South Brunswick stormed from the gate with two impressive victories, taking an 11-6 win at North Brunswick Saturday and following with a come-from-behind, 9-7 triumph against Old Bridge Monday.
And while Jogan is threatening to break the school’s career scoring record in this, her junior year, she had just one of the Vikings 20 goals.
But no one is complaining, as there are others around to pick up the slack.
"Last year, a lot of teams would double team Alana and we wouldn’t have anywhere else to go," said midfielder Ashley Foltiny, who has exploded for six goals in the first two games. "This year, we have more options and we’re spreading the ball out a lot. We’re a pretty well-rounded team."
Foltiny said that there was no talk of trying to spread it around, it just came naturally. "I think it just kind of happened," she said. "Everyone stepped up. We have a bunch of girls that can score."
In the win over North Brunswick, Foltiny had four goals, while Katie Campisano added three and Danielle Bussiere had two.
"We played really well in the North Brunswick game," Foltiny said. "But against Old Bridge, we had a slow start."
That start caused the Vikings to fall behind early, and they still trailed by two in the second half before head coach Lisa Ripa called a productive timeout.
"Our defense wasn’t talking, we were playing sloppy, we weren’t catching passes or throwing good passes," Foltiny said. "She told us to play our game and step it up. We just took a breather and focused."
The result was a solid rally, as South Brunswick outscored the Knights, 5-1 from that point on.
Foltiny had two more goals, while Lori Schmon had three, Bussiere had two, Alana Asch had a goal and an assist, Ali Ruggirello had a goal and Jogan added an assist. Alex Gaudio made five saves to earn her second win in the nets. The Vikes are back in action today at South Plainfield, host Pennington in noon game Saturday and visit J.P. Stevens at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

