By: Rich Fisher
It doesn’t matter that South Brunswick High’s girls lacrosse team lost to Moorestown in the NJSIAA South A tournament Tuesday. That pretty much happens to every team, as it was the Quakers 143rd straight win against New Jersey competition.
What does matter, is that the Vikings bounced off the mat after being knocked down hard by North Brunswick, and achieved some school history by winning the first state tournament game in school history Saturday morning.
And they did it on a day where the juniors had a prom that night, while coach Lisa Ripa had to get measured for a wedding dress that afternoon.
But they put business first, and snapped a two-game losing streak in first-round state games.
After suffering a gut-wrenching defeat to the Raiders in the Greater Middlesex Conference semifinals two Mondays ago, the Vikes had four days to regroup. They did so, and came up with a 10-7 victory over Freehold Township to gain that elusive first-round victory.
"It’s been our goal from beginning of season to get to the second round of the states," said junior Alana Asch, who had a goal in the win. "We managed to put the loss behind us and work toward this goal."
Alana Jogan, who set the school record for career goals in the win, admitted the Vikings were as low as can be after the loss to North Brunswick.
"Oh my God, we were a mess," Jogan said. "But we came together at practice and we said to each other that we want to accomplish this goal. It was a goal at the beginning of the season to win the first round of states, and we did it."
And when the final whistle blew, the celebration started.
"I was so excited," Jogan said. "We wanted this since, I can’t even remember. If it wasn’t going to be GMC’s, it was going to be states. We finally got it."
And Jogan has another year. Just think how a senior like Ashley Foltiny felt.
"We said this is our last home game as seniors and we wanted to win it," Foltiny said. "I was kind of upset we lost GMC’s, so this feels great to finally do it in states."
Ripa had concerns about how ready the Vikes would be. Practice was minimal on Tuesday due to wet grounds, and nothing got done Wednesday when West Windsor-Plainsboro-South cancelled a make-up game at the last minute.
That left two days to prepare.
"It was pretty tough," the first-year head coach said. "On Tuesday, they were really, really down, and we couldn’t do much of anything. I was very nervous.
"It was difficult to get them back out there on Thursday. They were still really down. Then they got. . . really goofy. So we had fun, and I guess that helped a little bit."
It seemed to help a lot at the outset, as goals by Katie Campisano, Amy Walters and two from Heather Bacci gave the Vikes a 4-0 lead. But, much like the North Brunswick game, where a 4-1 lead disappeared, South let the Patriots back in it and the game was tied at 5-5 by halftime.
"I was getting very nervous," Ripa said. "I felt like we got a little bit sloppy. I was scared we were going to throw it away and get frustrated like we did against North Brunswick. But they worked it out. They were able to settle back down, get a couple goals to get us the lead."
Walters second-half goal was offset by a Freehold tally, but South took the lead for good when Campisano and Jogan scored to make it 8-6. Freehold cut it to 8-7 before Asch and Bacci put it out of reach.
"We were a little worried after they came back," Asch said. "But after that we started playing better."
"I think we knew if we played our game we’d still be able to pull out a win," Foltiny said. "And Alex (Gaudio) did really well. That gets us fired up."
Gaudio, a junior goalie who let in a few easy ones against the Raiders, bounced back with 10 saves, several of them outstanding.
"She did have a good game," Ripa said. "When they scored a couple in a row, I was nervous that she was going to get off her game again.
"But we talked to her at halftime, and she picked it up. She settled down and got aggressive. She got her body in front of the ball instead of just moving her stick."
Speaking of aggressive, Campisano was all over the field, making her presence felt in a big way.
"She had a great game," Ripa said. "She did everything right, she was involved in almost every offensive play. She was passing, making a lot of things happen on offense, and also, she was the one receiving the ball from the defense at midfield, which is huge."
And, don’t forget Heather Bacci, who missed North Brunswick with a concussion, but came back for a hat trick against Freehold.
"Heather has been working extremely hard in practice since our trainer cleared her to play," Ripa said. "In the past, she some times lacked the confidence to cut and shoot, but you would never have known it by her performance. She played aggressively and with confidence, and I am very proud of her."
Of course, all good things must come to an end, which they in a 20-2 loss to six-time defending state champion Moorestown.
But the Vikings went into the contest with a realistic view.
"We want to play them just for the experience honestly," Gaudio said prior to meeting the Quakers. "They’re a great team and you can learn a lot from them."
For the time being, learning what it feels like to win a state game is nice enough.
OVERTIME: Danielle Bussiere, Simone Morris and Ally Ruggirello all missed the Freehold game . . . Ruggirello, who will need surgery on a torn ACL, still made her presence felt by running the clock and handling the scorebook flawlessly.

