Chatham Girls' Lacrosse Dominates First Half, Holds on for Victory Against Summit

SUMMIT – Saturday afternoon's game featuring the Summit and Chatham girls lacrosse teams was a tale of two halves.

The Chatham Cougars dominated the first half, putting 11 points on the board to Summit's one. The Hilltoppers played a much better second half, however, and controlled possession and outscored Chatham 5-2. In the end, Chatham was able to protect its early lead and win by a final score of 13-6. 

"We were prepared and understood their offense and defense," Chatham head coach Deb Marriott said. "We knew what we had to do and went over it in practice yesterday. The girls were very excited about this game. They were ready to play." 

The Hilltoppers won the first two draws of the game but were unable to capitalize offensively. Chatham, on the other hand, capitalized on virtually every first half possession. 

Chatham sophomore Jaclyn Leto scored the game's first goal at the 21:07 mark after her teammate, Paige McKenna, intercepted a Hilltopper pass. Fellow sophomore Kelsey Perselay scored four minutes later to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead, followed by a "man-up" goal by Chatham's Emma Ehler. 

The Cougars then went on a scoring spree and found the back of the net four times in just over a minute. Courtney Landolfe scored twice, and Cat McCutcheon and Meghan Murray each added a goal to turn the Cougars' 3-0 lead into a 7-0 advantage in the blink of an eye. 

To their credit, the Hilltoppers continued to play hard and put their first point on the scoreboard with a Caroline Cordrey goal at the 10:40 mark. 

Summit kept applying pressure but had difficulty getting a shot past Chatham goalie Lydia Jenkins, who played a tremendous game and racked up 21 saves on the day. 

"Lydia did a great job today," Marriott said. 

Before the end of the half, the Cougars were able to control three more draws and put four more points on the board. At the half, Chatham led 11-1. The Cougars scored 11 goals off of 18 shots, and won eight draws in the first half. 

"Lacrosse is a game of possession, and that was one of our main goals today - to maintain possession," Marriott added. 

Summit looked like a different team in the second half. The team won the first two draws, and capitalized on both when Hilltoppers' Megan Paytas and Kelly Osmulski each scored to cut Chatham's lead to 11-3. Summit's defense also stepped up and held the Cougars scoreless for the half's first 11 minutes, and limited the Cougars to just two goals in the second half. 

Summit found the back of the net three more times with two Caroline Cordrey goals and one by Clare O'Malley. The first half deficit proved to be too much for the Hilltoppers to overcome, however, and they eventually fell to the Cougars.

"Today, Chatham was clearly the better team," Summit head coach Rob Grella said. "They have great players. We came back and only allowed two goals in the second half, and we fought all the way through. That's all you can really ask for." 

Murray, Landolfe, Leto, Perselay and McCutcheon each scored two goals for the Cougars. Kathryn Maiorano, Emma Ehler and Kallen Murray each scored one goal on the afternoon. 

With the win, Chatham improves to 5-0 on the season. They take on Lenape Valley Regional High School next Wednesday at home at 4 p.m.