By: Rich Fisher
When the Greater Middlesex Conference girls’ lacrosse tournament gets started today (Thursday), anything can happen with the South Brunswick High squad.
Playing with a lot of youth and a lot of injuries this season, the Vikings have been a hard team to pin down. They started slow, heated up with five wins in six games, then lost on Monday to an Old Bridge team they beat the week before.
That was followed by an 8-7 loss to East Brunswick Tuesday, which left the Vikings in fourth place in the GMC standings.
That resulted in a first-round home game today against 5th-seeded J.P. Stevens.
Will it be the good Vikes, or the other Vikes who show up?
"I’m trying to figure that out," coach Gail DeMarco said, when asked what she attributes the ups and downs to. "After these losses, I’m not sure."
But, after examining it a bit more closely, the coach felt there were some factors that could naturally lead to inconsistencies.
One has been injuries to a defense that was considered inexperienced even when healthy. Senior Amy Walters missed several games. When she returned, sophomore Jerika Fernandez got injured.
"We’re playing with a different group of girls and it’s hard to get any consistency," DeMarco said. "On Monday, we finally had everyone back playing, but we needed to work out a few things because it was the first time they were all playing together."
Another challenge has been the Vikings youth, combined with a schedule that loads up on games one week but seems to go bare the next.
"We have lot of sophomores," DeMarco said. "So, we’re still trying to jell. Part of the problem is we would play one game a week, which is hard. When we got on a run, we were playing three games a week and jelling. Then we’d have time off and have to regroup again."
South Brunswick concluded last week with a 13-3 win over South Plainfield, as Alana Jogan scored six goals and Danielle Bussiere had five. That came on the heels of a thrilling overtime win over Old Bridge. But SBHS dropped an 11-5 decision to the Knights on Monday, as Jogan’s three goals were the offensive highlight. Bussiere, the team’s leading scorer, was moved back to defense during the game.
"Old Bridge killed her," DeMarco said. "They were triple teaming here all over the place. We moved her back on defense and changed things up a little bit. There was no score by them for the nine minutes she was back there. She’s such a good defender."
DeMarco says she has toyed with the idea of dropping Bussiere back, but for now will keep her on attack. While playing her usual spot, Bussiere had five goals against East Brunswick.
DeMarco still feels the pieces are still there for the Vikings to make a run and qualify for states.
At 5-6, South must win its next two games to be .500 or better by Tuesday’s cutoff date. After today’s contest, the Vikes meet South Plainfield on Saturday for Senior Day.
