By: Kyle Moylan
Robbinsville won the first meeting. Allentown needed a win to help with its goal of hosting a state tournament game. And not only was the Allentown High girls’ lacrosse team dedicating its game and raising money for a teammate with leukemia, Becca Wishbow came out at the end of the contest to cheer her friends on to victory.
Simply put, this was not the day to try and beat Allentown.
Jackie Turner, Colleen Giglia and Brittany Petrella scored two goals for Allentown in a 9-3 victory over Robbinsville last Thursday. Laura Franks, Kelsey Grant and Caitlyn Crane also scored in the win.
"To be honest, this was not an easy game for Robbinsville to play," Allentown Coach Jeff Hanford said, pointing out how there were fundraisers for Wishbow and a very pro-Allentown crowd. "Considering the situation, not many people wanted to see Robbinsville win. There was also the revenge factor. My kids were talking about the ‘Mommy Hanford’ headline (Robbinsville is coached by Jeff’s wife, a recent mommy). After the game my kids were saying, ‘Who is your daddy now?’ Oh, please, let’s not start that stuff and get me in trouble (laughs)."
Allentown followed up this win with a 10-6 victory against Winslow. Smith scored three goals, Giglia, Grant and Petrella two each, and Turner also put one in the net.
"We had to get out of there with a win, which is what we did," Hanford said.
Allentown will now see what it can do about padding its 8-3 mark and trying to secure a home playoff game. The team was scheduled to play Hightstown on Tuesday. It will play West Windsor North on Friday. Allentown will probably also open play in the Mercer County Tournament this weekend, but there was some debate on how the tournament would be run. One of points to be ironed out is whether the public school wanted to face the prep schools before the cutoff for the state tournament.
"Bringing the whole team back, we kind of thought this would be a solid year," Hanford said. "There are times we have leaned on the defense. Losing Becca hurt us from an offensive standpoint. She scored a goal in the playoffs (a 10-8 loss to Red Bank) last year.
"We’re playing well, but we still have a long way to go. After playing Hopewell (a 14-3 loss), we realize there is a whole different level to get to."
That will come in time. Winning twice last week and raising a lot of money for Wishbow is enough success for any team to be happy about.
