By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
When Sara Doran watches sophomore Serena Bolitho play, she sees many of the same attributes she sees in one of her top veteran players., “She sort of reminds me of a Georgia McLean,” the Princeton High girls lacrosse coach said. “She has similar kinds of attributes where she is not necessarily scoring the goals, but is working super hard. She is getting the 50-50 balls in the air and on the ground. I see those players as very valuable and I really appreciate her hard work.”, Bolitho, who helped the Little Tigers improve to 6-1 with a 17-2 win over Robbinsville on Monday, is more than happy with the comparison., “It’s an honor,” Bolitho said after Monday’s win. “I am inspired by Georgia’s tenacity on the field. I just strive to do as much as she does, and every ground ball go for it completely. Every ball on the ground you have to fight, even if you don’t come up with it you put pressure towards the other team.”, The Little Tigers have been fighting all season and are off to an impressive start. They have won four straight since suffering a two-goal loss to Rancocas Valley in their third game of the season. The offense has been balanced and the defense has limited opponents to less than seven goals a game., “I love the team,” Bolitho said. “We have a lot of new plays that we are incorporating. And we’re working very well as a cohesive unit. We fell to Rancocas by two, but I felt it was a good game overall. We have very strong team chemistry. I think we work very well together in connecting with the passes and overall seeing each other. We have an overall strong field IQ.”, The offense has scored 113 goals in the first eight games of the season following an 11-10 loss to Washington Township on Wednesday. Mariana Lopez-Ona leads the way with 34 goals, while Abaigeal has 21 and McLean has 18. Shaylah Marciano has 12 goals and Margaret Jacobs is also in double figures with 10 goals., “That’s what’s so exciting about this team, that there is so much depth,” Doran said “We have girls from the offensive end to the defensive end that are just really strong. So it makes a real threat all over the field. We don’t really have a lot of holes. We’re really focusing on the team effort this year and I think the girls have executed that very well, as evidenced by how many of our goals are scored off of assists. They’re a great group of girls, they play so well together and are super hard workers. I am very happy with where we are.”, Bolitho is one of the unsung players who doesn’t put up many goals, but does the little things to help the team win. She has scored four times this season and is among the team leaders in ground balls., “She is just so fast,” Doran said. “She gets to the ground balls. She is always working super hard. She is really just a huge asset to our team with her speed. We were running a backer (defense) today and I have her as the Backer D. She is very smart on the field. She makes great decisions and is just working hard for the entire time.”, And for her part, Bolitho is quite content to contribute to the wins in any way she possibly can., “I started lacrosse in seventh grade,” she said. “Originally I was playing midfield. I’ve always had that mindset of going after the ball. A 50-50 ball anyone can get it. You have to push through. I’m more about making them (goals) happen. I’m just happy when its a team goal.”
