Girls Lacrosse: Ridge rolls into North Group IV quarterfinals

BERNARDS TWP. - After being upset in the quarterfinals of the Somerset County Tournament, the Ridge High School girls lacrosse team was looking for a little redemption, and the Red Devils found it in the first round of the state tournament.

Seventh-seeded Ridge (12-5) defeated No. 10 Montgomery 16-6 in the first round of the NJSIAA North Group IV Tournament on Wednesday afternoon. It was the third-straight win for the Red Devils since falling to Pingry in the county tournament, and the team will look to keep the momentum going as they will face second-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan in the quarterfinals.

"Coming into this game we were definitely prepared to win, but we came off a loss against Pingry and we had to get a little redemption," said Ridge's Cassidy McKenna, who finished with four goals. "It was definitely because we went into that (Pingry game) thinking that it was going to be a win for us hands down, but they definitely came out strong and it was definitely a shock to us so we had to step it up big time coming into this."

Montgomery (9-10) struck first as Danielle Losier scored less than two minutes into the game, but Ridge rolled off 10-straight goals, with Mena Loescher, Annabelle Persachick and Kerry Cassidy all scoring twice to give the Red Devils a 10-1 lead at halftime.

"I think after losing to (Pingry) it made us realize how much harder we need to work on each game and that we can't slack off in any games," said Loescher, who finished with a game-high five goals. "We just have to keep moving forward."

Losier scored her second goal just 16 seconds into the second half to cut the lead to 10-2, but Cassidy scored a minute later to keep Ridge ahead 11-2.

With 18:24 remaining Montgomery's Caroline Decker scored with a man-advantage and the Cougars trailed 11-3. Sixteen seconds later Cassidy scored again for a 12-3 game.

"I think we had to play our best game today because we want to continue to play, possibly play Bridgewater, and we're just hoping to keep playing our best game so we can go further in states," Loescher said.

Montgomery kept coming and Angela Masessa scored on an assist from Decker with 17:43 to play to cut the lead to 12-4. Cassidy and Loescher combined to score the next four goals for the Red Devils, and Ridge led 15-4 with 13:36 remaining.

Decker and Masessa closed out the scoring for the Cougars as the pair each scored in the final 6:18 for the 16-6 final.

"We worked really well together and Katie Scherzer did really good in goal today, which helps out a lot," Loescher said.

Bea Behrins and Emma Wightman combined to win 15-of-23 draw controls for Ridge. Amanda Harris won eight for Montgomery.

Up next for Ridge is Bridgewater-Raritan, a team that is undefeated at 19-0 and is coming off its second-straight Somerset County Tournament title. The Red Devils will travel to face the Panthers on Monday, May 23.

"We're expecting a big, big challenge, Bridgewater is undefeated and we're hoping that we can play our best game and have a good outcome," Loescher said. "I think we really need to work together and keep our heads up and not look down because they're such a good team, and just keep moving and have the confidence that they have on the field."

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

Ridge 16, Montgomery 6

GOALS: (R) Loescher 5, McKenna 4, Cassidy 2, Pesarchick 2, Byrnes, Lalley, Wightman; (M) Masessa 2, Losier 2, Decker 2; ASSISTS: (R) Loescher 2, Behrins, Byrnes, Cassidy, Lalley, McKenna, Pesarchick, Wightman; (M) Decker; SAVES: (R) Scherzer 13; (M) Weakliem 11.