Boys Lacrosse: North Hunterdon rallies to beat Rutgers Prep

FRANKLIN (SOMERSET) - Sean Wood scored four goals as the North Hunterdon High School boys lacrosse team rallied to defeat Rutgers Prep 7-4 on Wednesday afternoon.

It was the first win for North Hunterdon (1-3) after falling to the likes of Pingry, Montgomery and Bridgewater-Raritan in its last three games.

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"We knew that we had a good shot at the win and we're coming off a couple of rough losses, so we just came out to try and get our first win and start the season off right," North Hunterdon sophomore attack Jared McMahon said. "We have good leadership out here, the seniors, we have hard kids who are fighting for us to get out there and win and we have to give props to them for keeping us in this game."

Down 3-1 to start the second quarter, senior midfielder Jake Pepe scored on an assist from senior attack Russ Hillman to cut the lead to 3-2, and with 1:17 left Wood scored his second of the day on an assist from senior midfielder Nick Gurreri to tie the game 3-3.

"We've had three tough games, so we had to battle back in every game and today we were down again and finally put the ball in the cage," Wood said. "(Cole Touhey) was a good goalie, but we got some closer looks and got the game back."

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The Lions opened the third quarter with the go-ahead goal from McMahon, then took a 5-3 lead with 1:11 remaining on a goal from senior midfielder Rob Marron.

North Hunterdon kept it up in the fourth quarter, as Wood scored two more goals to give the Lions a 7-3 lead with 6:54 remaining. With 23.6 seconds left Lance Bean scored his third goal of the day for Rutgers Prep for the 7-4 final.

Pepe and junior midfielder Sean McQuade combined to win 12-of-15 faceoffs for the Lions. North Hunterdon's defense was also strong on Wednesday, as it held Rutgers Prep to only nine shots on goal in the final three quarters after allowing the Argonauts six shots on net in the first quarter.

"It feels great," McMahon said. "We got the season off nice, we have a non-conference win, the first one's not always pretty but we'll keep going and try and get more wins."

Rutgers Prep has struggled early this season, going 0-6 against some quality teams in Immaculata, Pingry, Bernards, Moorestown and St. Joseph (Metuchen). The Argonauts' schedule doesn't get any easier as they face Ridge, St. Peter's Prep and Montgomery in the coming weeks.

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

North Hunterdon 7, Rutgers Prep 4

GOALS: (NH) Wood 4, J. McMahon, Pepe, Marron; (RP) Bean 3, Varga; ASSISTS: (NH) Gurreri 2, Hillman 2, Middleton, J. McMahon; (RP) Carroll 2; SAVES: (RP) Touhey 18; (NH) Koehler 5.