By: Rich Fisher
The South Brunswick High girls lacrosse team is in an unfamiliar position this year.
It is the dreaded "Team to Beat" in the Greater Middlesex Conference.
So far, it is living up to its billing, but coach Lisa Ripa doesn’t want that billing to be a curse.
"When I first saw that we were ranked No. 1 (in a daily paper), I was all excited," Ripa said. "Then people were coming up to me and saying ‘You know, that’s a lot of pressure.’"
That’s exactly what a first-year coach likes to hear. Especially one who is also planning her wedding this summer. Then again, with the mind numbing chore of seating charts and floral arrangements wreaking havoc in her life, all other pressure should pale in comparison for Ripa.
But she still needs to stress to her players the importance of focusing on each team as it comes along.
"I definitely think we’re off to an excellent start," Ripa said. "I guess I’m nervous we’re going to get over-confident. I don’t want them to think we’ve already won.
"A lot of the girls are saying ‘This is our year, we’re winning the GMC’s.’ We’re nowhere near there yet. We have a real tough stretch ahead with East Brunswick, North Brunswick and Old Bridge, so we shouldn’t be thinking that way right now."
The question is, how does Ripa keep her players’ feet on the ground?
"We’ve actually been spending a lot of time this season trying to focus on our goals this season," Ripa said. "I have them write down their goals, after practice we sat down and talked about what we want to accomplish as a team this season.
"A lot of the girls really just want to make South Brunswick a name. They want this reputation of being a team rather than individuals. We just kind of keep re-visiting that, talking about where we’re trying to go."
Whatever they have tried so far, has worked for the Vikings.
After a come-from-behind win over Old Bridge last week, South Brunswick erupted for a 14-5 win over South Plainfield last Thursday, then topped the first-year J.P. Stevens program, 17-3 on Tuesday. Alana Jogan had her first big goal-scoring game of the year, putting four in the back of the net to go along with two assists against Old Bridge. Danielle Bussiere continued her torrid early-season scoring with five goals and two assists, which gives her 14 goals for the season.
"She got her share of goals last year, but she wasn’t a huge scorer," Ripa said. "But now she’s gotten really fast and she’s improved her shot a lot."
Ashley Foltiny, a fellow attack wing in the midfield, has also shown marked improvement.
"I know she did some stuff in the off-season," Ripa said. "She’s faster and she’s quicker with her stick."
Foltiny did not score against South Plainfield, but Katie Campisano and Heather Bacci each had two goals and one assist while Alana Asch had a goal and an assist. Goalie Alex Gaudio made seven saves.
Against J.P. Stevens, Jogan had six goals and Bussiere five. Campisano had two goals and an assist, while Campisano, Foltiny and Amy Walters each had a goal and an assist and Ashley Ruggirello Asch had one goal each. Simone Morris had an assist.
Both victories came without four players who were away on trips, including starting midfielder Lori Schmon. But South Brunswick appears to have enough depth to fill in.
"I think we are well rounded," Ripa said. "Offensively, we don’t have just one go-to girl. I think we’ve had something like 11 girls score in the first three games. That’s’ really working out well for us."
The Vikings had their match with Pennington rained out on Saturday, and are back in action with a 10 a.m. match at Montgomery Saturday.

