Defending champs lose first game of season
By: Rudy Brandl
It looked like another routine day for the Hillsborough High girls’ lacrosse team in the opening moments of Monday’s Somerset County Tournament semifinal game vs. Bridgewater-Raritan.
The Lady Raiders stormed down the field, scored two early goals and appeared poised to continue their undefeated season and return to the county finals to defend their title.
B-R had other plans.
The fourth-ranked Panthers scored the game’s next five goals and kept the high-powered Hillsborough offense at bay for the rest of the day and posted a stunning 6-4 upset victory. The HHS girls played a solid defensive game but couldn’t generate enough offense to recover from Bridgewater’s flurry midway through the first half.
"There were a lot of things," HHS head coach Beth Murrin said afterward. "We had some problems with midfield transition and some of our shots didn’t fall the way we wanted them."
The Lady Raiders played hard but simply weren’t firing on all cylinders offensively. Bridgewater was content to play a possession game with the lead and clamped down defensively on HHS star Ali DeLuca, holding the county’s premier player to two goals.
"We didn’t take care of the ball," Murrin said. "Our shot selection wasn’t great."
Lindsey Watts opened the scoring at the 23:49 mark and DeLuca followed with 21:53 remaining in the first half. After that, Hillsborough didn’t score until Katie Marino connected with 47 seconds left in the half.
The second half was a defensive struggle with both teams marking tightly. When a shot managed to get through, the goalkeepers were there to make the save. Hillsborough’s Lauren Griggs made some big stops and held B-R to just one goal in the second half.
Bridgewater’s Kristen DeTroia did a great job in the cage, particularly in the first half. She stopped DeLuca on a free position drive with nine minutes left that would have tied the game at 3-3. B-R went on to score two more goals to take a 5-2 lead and DeTroia made another diving save to rob Liz Tafaro with 2:30 left in the half.
Hillsborough couldn’t get much going in the second half. The team managed only four shots on goal the entire half, but two came in the final minute. By the time DeLuca scored with 15 seconds remaining, it was too late to start a rally.
The HHS girls played with great determination all the way to the final whistle but will not get the opportunity to defend their county title.
"We played with 100 percent heart and we didn’t quit," Murrin said. "We played awesome defensively. Letting up six goals to Bridgewater is nothing I’m going to hang my head about."
Murrin made sure her girls left the field with the same feeling. Hillsborough is still undefeated in Skyland Conference play and getting ready to compete in the state playoffs.
"It’s tough to be eliminated in the counties and it’s going to feel awful tonight, but we have to focus on our next goal," she said. "We have an undefeated regular season going and this is a team that can go far in the states. We just have to go after the next set of goals."
NOTES The HHS girls remained undefeated in regular season play with blowout wins over Phillipsburg (16-3), North Hunterdon (14-5) and Immaculata (17-4). DeLuca had six goals and five assists and Watts connected for five goals in the home victory over Phillipsburg. DeLuca (7 goals, 3 assists) and Watts (4 goals, 2 assists) led the offense at North Hunterdon, while Marino added two goals and Sara DiClemente notched one goal and five draw controls. Watts (6 goals, 2 assists) and DeLuca (5 goals, 4 assists) combined for most of the damage in Friday’s home win over Immaculata. Kelsey Palmer and Tafaro added two goals apiece. Hillsborough was scheduled to end the regular season with a home game vs. Hunterdon Central and road game at Watchung Hills.