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Boys Lacrosse: Bridgewater-Raritan tops Ridge in double OT

Lauren Knego

@laurenknego

BRIDGEWATER - It took almost an extra five minutes, but in the end the Bridgewater-Raritan boys lacrosse team found a way to win.

Senior midfielder Ethan Christensen scored the game-winning goal on an assist from junior attack Sean MacKinney with 3:23 left in the second overtime to lift the Panthers over Ridge 9-8 on Saturday morning.

"It's huge, it's going to be a huge motivational boost for us. We played them a lot last year, it was a close game the second time, but we knew we just had to keep bringing the intensity. It's just always a close game, and we have to step it up when we need to," Christensen said. "Ridge always brings intensity, but we always bring it back, this is such a huge rivalry game for us. We always have it marked on our schedule; we're always excited to play against them and we just bring it all and hope we walk away with the W."

Bridgewater-Raritan, coming off of a perfect season and a Tournament of Champions title last year, improved to 2-0. While they sit atop the Skyland Conference, along with Immaculata and Montgomery, the Panthers know that this season that they will have a target on their backs as the team to beat.

"We knew going into it we had a huge target on our backs, but we use it as motivation," Christensen said. "Last year was great but we pretty much tried, to not forget about it, but put it behind us, it's a new season. We had to start the season fresh, we had to have a fresh mentality and we knew we had to bring the hustle every time."

Briddgewater-Raritan's Brian Kolen (left) passes the ball as he is defended by Ridge's Brody Bunsa on Saturday in Bridgewater.

Ridge (0-2) came close on Saturday, hanging tough with the Panthers until the end. The Red Devils' defense played extraordinary in man down situations, killing off two penalties in which Ridge was down two players. Sophomore goalie Michael Harris made a number of huge saves for the Red Devils, especially in the third and fourth quarters.

"He was making a lot of great saves, we watched him in film, he liked to crouch down a little bit so the whole game our coach was saying bring it high inside, bring it high opposite, just change it up on him," said Christensen, whose winning goal was top corner. "We can bring it low but you have to bring it up a little bit, you have to change it up and confuse him a little bit."

With 7:34 to play in the fourth quarter the Red Devils took a 8-7 lead when senior attack Rich McKenna scored on an assist from senior midfielder Kevin Quigley. Almost three minutes later senior attack Brian Kolen scored for the Panthers to tie the game 8-8. Ridge had a chance to win the game in regulation, but turned the ball over just as time expired to force overtime.

The game started quickly, as the two teams found themselves tied 1-1 within the first 60 seconds of play. Ridge struck first when Quigley scored on an assist from McKenna just 19 seconds in for 1-0 lead. Bridgewater-Raritan answered right back on a goal from junior midfielder Nick Attanasio.

Both teams would score two more goals in the first quarter for a 3-3 tie after the first 12 minutes. With 9:41 remaining in the first half, Ridge took a 4-3 lead on a goal from senior midfielder Dan Skea, and the Red Devils would hold the lead heading into halftime.

The Panthers struck early in the third quarter, tying the game 4-4 on a goal from Christensen, but Ridge didn't stay down for long and retook the lead 5-4 on a goal from senior attack Matt Auletti with 8:04 to play. Bridgewater-Raritan then scored back-to-back goals to take a 6-5 lead with 7:08 left. With 5:56 remaining, Griffin Ngai tied the game 6-6, and a goal from sophomore attack Bryce Kirkwood again put the Red Devils ahead, 7-6, with 2:24 left.

Kolen scored early in the fourth quarter on an assist from Ngai to pull Bridgewater-Raritan even again, 7-7.

"We know we're a different team, we're not last year's team, we have to play to our own strengths and do what we think will be most beneficial for our team," Kolen said. "Every team is headhunting this year because of our season last year and we have to take one game at a time and prepare like it's a championship game and that will help us get where we want to be."

Sophomore goalie Michael Harris made 13 saves for Ridge, while Dene Bugianesi made six saves for Bridgwater-Raritan. Junior midfielder Joe Lenskold won 14 faceoffs for the Panthers, while junior midfielder Alex Choy won five for Ridge.

"He was huge," Christensen said of Lenskold. "We were telling him every time he went out, it all starts with you. It's huge for him as a junior to step up and get us possession and just get us the ball on offense, we couldn't have done it without him."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; @laurenknego