Girls Lacrosse: Bridgewater-Raritan repeats as SCT champions
BRIDGEWATER - In dominating fashion, the Bridgewater-Raritan girls lacrosse team claimed its second-straight Somerset County Tournament title on Saturday afternoon.
The top-seeded Panthers defeated third-seeded Bernards 20-3 and remained undefeated at 18-0. Bernards, which was making its first appearance in the final, is now 14-3.
"We were expecting a well-fought game, Bernards is a really good team and we were just really excited to get out here," Bridgewater-Raritan's Hannah Hollingsworth said. "We're all family out there, we all connect really well. We have such great chemistry and the electricity on the field is undeniable when we play with each other. It's fun to watch, it's fun to play, it's awesome."
BOYS LACROSSE:BRIDGEWATER-RARITAN TOPS PINGRY FOR SCT TITLE
Bridgewater-Raritan jumped out to a 8-0 lead with 10:17 remaining before Bernards got on the board with a goal from Paige Petty with 9:52 left in the first half. The Panthers didn't let up and scored twice more before the Mountaineers again scored on a goal by Petty with 3:52 to go. At the half, Bridgewater-Raritan led 12-2.
"Our plan was we just had to dominate from that first whistle and keep going hard the entire game and working our defense, midfield, offense, the draw, everything was just working for us and we had to keep going," Bridgewater-Raritan's Ally Mastroianni said.
The second half was more of the same, as the Panthers scored four-straight goals before Bernards answered back on a goal from Abby Cawley with 18:14 to play for a 16-3 game.
In the final 17:04 Bridgewater-Raritan scored four more goals for the 20-3 final. The Panthers were strong on the draw controls, as Mastroianni and Jana Rothman combined to win 16-of-25. Tegan Warren and Laurel McHale combined to win eight for Bernards.
RELATED:GIRLS LACROSSE ROUNDUP FOR SATURDAY, MAY 14
Bridgewater-Raritan ran a clinic on defense, as the back line for the Panthers held the Mountaineers to only eight shots on goal.
"They did fantastic," Hollingsworth said of the defense. "When we would cause a turnover on offense the defense would come right up and come with the stop, huge stops by (goalie) Arielle Weissman, it feels fantastic, I can't even describe it."
Last season the Panthers defeated Ridge in the final, snapping the Red Devils' streak of three-straight titles. Now it appears as if the Panthers are gearing up for a run of their own.
"I think everyone is just playing their roles. Our goalie Arielle (Weissman) is playing amazing, our defense is on fire, our midfield line, attack, everything is just working for us, so we'll just keep working as a team," Mastroianni said.
For Bernards, it wasn't the outcome it wanted, but the experience the Mountaineers gained will only help them in the state tournament, and again next season.
"It was obviously not the situation we hoped to be in but we played together for 50 minutes, we didn't execute our game plan as we had expected to do but we fought, we had some kids step up that we didn't necessarily expect and they played together, we win as a team, we lose as a team," coach Jessica McGinn said. "When we played against Bridgewater in the semifinals last year we stood individually, so I can't that say that, we really stood as a group so I'm proud of them."
Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego
Bridgewater-Raritan 20, Bernards 3
GOALS: (BR) Mastroianni 4, Murphy 4, Hollingsworth 3, A. Reilly 3, Stanton 2, Jankowski 2, D. Reilly, Lytle; (B) Petty 2, Cawley; ASSISTS: (BR) Hollingsworth 3, Stanton 3, Mastroianni 3, Murphy 3; A. Reilly, Lytle; (B) Warren 2; SAVES: (BR) Weissman 6; (B) Grimm 6, Cassella 1.