By Justin Feil, Contributor
Sandwiched between a pair of losses to a pair of undefeated teams, the Hillsborough High School girls lacrosse team proved it has top potential with five straight wins., The Raiders capped their five-game streak with a 16-12 win over Hunterdon Central on Saturday. A year ago, Hillsborough lost by 10 goals to that same opponent., “Saturday, we finally hit our stride,” said Hillsborough head coach Beth Murrin. “I was really happy how we played Saturday. We took a tremendous stride forward.”, Hillsborough came into the season with graduation losses at each level of the field. On the attacking end, high-scoring Gianna Napoletano graduated. Danielle Fanizzi, a solid role player, also graduated. The Raiders graduated a top midfielder, Sam Boyer. And on defense, Rhiannon Accetta graduated and Victoria Rivera did not return., “The biggest question mark was at the defensive end of the field,” Murrin said. “We lost more there.”, Murrin started to develop the team around the positions about which she felt most certain. The midfield had capable leaders and playmakers., “I knew who our midfielders would be,” Murrin said. “We had one kid who’s a sophomore, Kendall Smith, who came up last year and we also had Sarah Spence, who played low defense for us last year who spent a lot of time improving her play and I knew she was going to impact us. I felt pretty sure of what was going to happen midfield-wise with those two combined with our returning two midfielders, Olivia Johnsen and Gabriella Vangeli, I knew those four would be our midfielders. Then it was kind of like building out from there., “We had Liz Reilly and Kristen Andreychak back on the defensive end. Liz started with an injury so we had one or two prominent roles to fill and we’ve done that with a senior, Lauryn Yaskowski, and with a junior, Annie Ryan, and then the other midfielders rotate and sometimes play a low defensive spot and sometimes they play a midfield and give them a break that way. We are not blessed with two midfield lines so they can come off the field, so they have to get their rest on the field. We need them on the field.”, The Raiders returned goalie Brooke McCormick for a good backstop to the defense. The sophomore started games last year., “She got a lot of experience last year as a freshman,” Murrin said. “She’s much more composed with the ball in her stick this year. That took us some time last year. She’s doing a nice job.”, The attack also had some solid pieces to build around along with some new faces that have stepped in to bolster the squad., “On the attacking end, Olivia Johnsen and Lisa Ross were returning and I knew Sara Coutts would be our next attacker,” Murrin said. “She’s a junior but she’s been with us since her freshman year. She was kind of waiting in the wings, a step behind some of those older kids that graduated. We had one attacking spot left and a freshman has been getting a lot of the minutes, Tess Norfleet. She played some varsity basketball and I think that helped her. She has a physically strong body so she complements our other attackers that we have., “So it kind of came together, the puzzle pieces. You figure out who you have and decide where they can help you.”, The Raiders may seem young, but Murrin sees a lot of potential in how the team has come out to follow up last year’s 14-5 season., “Everybody is a little more seasoned,” she said. “We do have a freshman, but last year we played three freshmen. Everybody is a little more experienced this year.”, The Raiders faced some early tests in the season beginning with a much improved Bernards team that pulled away. Hillsborough then stopped Pingry, Old Bridge, East Brunswick and Phillipsburg before topping Hunterdon Central to finish the run., “We told them we have to focus on ourselves and focus on being our best and playing to our best potential,” Murrin said, “and I think that’s enough to compete with anyone. That’s what we’re focusing on. We’re pleased with the growth so far and we’re looking to keep taking steps forward.”, McCormick made seven saves in the win over Hunterdon Central. Johnsen had three goals and four assists while Buckman had two goals and five assists. Ross poured in five goals and an assist. Vangeli had three goals and an assist. Sara Coutts had a hat trick., “It sounds cliché, but I do think we’re pretty balanced, which is a good thing,” Murrin said. “I don’t necessarily think we have one thing that we can do and a bunch of things that we can’t do. I just think right now the players we have balance each other really well., “We are choosing to focus our energy on trying to become an excellent team at the circle on the draw and really efficient on offense. That’s where we’ve chosen to put an emphasis and define ourselves on a few things.”, The draw rule was changed this year for high school girls and it includes less girls in the circle to fight for the draw. It is designed to make the game safer., “You only have three people from each team battling for the ball,” Murrin explained. “It’s changed the game a little bit. It’s taken some time to get used to. We’re adjusting to the physicality, the box out, the speed to the ground ball and coming up out of it, you have to change the roles of everybody… We’re trying to take the new rule and use it to the best advantage we can. That was a huge factor Saturday. We out-drew Hunterdon Central and that was a huge part of the win. When the other team doesn’t have the ball, they’re not scoring. It was a huge part of our success.”, The Raiders didn’t have as much success when they took on one of the state’s premier teams – conference rival Bridgewater-Raritan. Hillsborough struggled at both ends, but there were glimpses of greatness., “I think the first half we got a little in our own heads about having to compete with Bridgewater,” Murrin said. “I don’t think we put our best foot forward so the first half was not good. We got ourselves to play out of that a little bit, and hopefully we take the segments from the second half that we put together good play and recognize how to do it.”, Hillsborough may have lost to Bridgewater, but it already has division wins over Pingry and Hunterdon Central. The Raiders can point to their most recent challenges as evidence that they are in the top tier of teams and potential of playing with anyone., “I think we are a better team than last year,” Murrin said. “I think we’re faster. I think we’re more capable as players and our lacrosse IQ across the whole field is up a little bit. Saturday tells me we’re better. Last year we couldn’t compete with these better teams. Same thing with Bridgewater. We could compete with them in segments and last year we couldn’t at all.”
