Lipsky’s goal stems Jackson rally
By: Bob Nuse
JACKSON First, the West Windsor-Plainsboro High North girls’ lacrosse team appeared to be in complete control. Then, the game appeared to be slipping away. But in the end, the Knights put it all together and emerged with a 14-10 win over Jackson in their opening round game of the South Jersey A tournament.
"It was very exciting," said North’s Amanda Lipsky, whose goal stopped a Jackson run that had cut North’s 8-2 lead to 8-7 in the second half. "They made a comeback, but I don’t think we were getting worried. We knew we had messed it up on offense with a couple of dropped balls. We knew we could still do it if we just worked together. We had to win the draw, keep possession and be confident."
The 11th-seeded Knights had jumped out to an 8-2 lead over sixth-seeded Jackson, only to see the home team cut the lead to 8-7. But Lipsky’s goal stopped the Jaguars’ run and was the first of four straight goals that gave the Knights a 12-7 lead.
Jackson scored three goals to cut the lead to 12-10, but the Knights then added the final two goals of the game for the win.
"We tried to stay calm and talk about what we were doing wrong when they were coming back," said North coach Beth Mitchell, whose team was scheduled to play at Washington Township on Thursday. "We said do you really want this game? And they really wanted it and we were able to pull it back together.
"This is one of those seasons where we just don’t want it to end. I’m glad the girls pulled it together and we were really connecting. This was a very clean game for us and that’s what we needed. In some games we don’t put it together and we’re not clean and the other team takes advantage of that."
Erica Depelteau led the Knights with four goals, while Kirsten Orloff added three. Lipsky, Brooke Wiener and Katie Lalli had two goals apiece. Lipsky isn’t one to score much for the Knights, but this time she did come up with a key goal when they needed it.
"I usually like to pull it out and see what I have," she said. "I try to pick and get other people open. On the goal, I knew I had the quick pass and I just looked straight at the goal and shot it."
Added Mitchell: "She’s a real solid player. Sometimes se doesn’t get the recognition she deserves because she’s not a girl who will take it to goal all the time. But she does such a great job of feeding the ball to people and creating the movement that we need. We’ve been working with her to go to the goal more. She’s very quick with the ball and a lot of times she doesn’t realize it. She’ll make a great pivot and lose girls and she has a chance to go right to the goal."
For the Knights, the chance to keep playing was what mattered most. They improved to 12-4 with the win and were hoping it carried over into their next matchup.
"Some games we have been pretty inconsistent. But we’ve picked it up for states and played at the level we knew we had to play at. There were some games where we didn’t play as well as we could. But today we pulled it together and played as a team.
"We don’t want the season to end because we all enjoy playing with each other and being on this team. This season is the most fun I have ever had being on a team. It’s been a great season."

