Chatham Girls' Lacrosse is the Top of its Class

BASKING RIDGE — The Chatham girls lacrosse team set its season high in scoring against Rumson-Fair Haven in the season opener back on April 1. Thus, going into Thursday's rematch in the Group 2 championship game, the Cougars knew they didn't have to play a near-perfect game to win their second state group title in three years.

But they did so anyway.

Courtney Landolfe and Meghan Murray each scored four goals and Chatham opened the game with a 12-0 run as the Cougars won the Group II title with a 17-5 win over Rumson at Ridge High School.

Landolfe and Emma Ehler each added three assists for Chatham (21-3), who will play in Tuesday's Tournament of Champions semifinal round at Monmouth University against an opponent to be determined. The TOC will be seeded following Friday's Group III title game between Shawnee and Mendham. The other two group champions are Ridgewood (Group IV) and Oak Knoll (Group I).

"We put all of our heart into this game," Landolfe said. "This win shows what Chatham is made of. We're proud to beat them twice."

Rumson (18-4), the South Group 2 champions, won the opening draw, but that would be one of the few first-half highlights for the Bulldogs.

The floodgates opened when Jaclyn Leto put Chatham on the board with a goal off a feed from Kelsey Perselay at 22:46. The Cougars scored on each of their first four shots in the first 7:27, with four different goal scorers doing the damage. Perselay made it 4-0 at that point, as it became clear Chatham had no trouble finding the open cutter in front of Rumson goalie Jackie Yorke.

"One of the things we saw the first game is that they did seem to lose our cutters inside the 8 [meter line]," said Chatham Head Coach Deb Marriott. "We moved fast, and we knew if we kept moving we'd do well."

"We had some beautiful plays on offense in the first half," Landolfe said. "It wasn't as easy as it looked, but we were so pumped we could do anything."

Perhaps buoyed by its fantastic start, the Cougars started to make offense look even easier. Chatham scored six times in a span of 109 seconds to render the remainder of the game a foregone conclusion.

Murray started it off with a goal from Brittany Marriott at 15:57 to make it 5-0. She followed with an unassisted goal 13 seconds later. After yet another draw control - Chatham won 16 of the 24 draws Thursday—Landolfe made it 7-0 at 15:05, thanks to the first of Ehler's assists.

The Cougars never showed signs of letting up, winning draw after draw and storming the Rumson cage, with the the Bulldogs offering little to no resistance.

"This is the most team-oriented team I've ever played on," Murray said. "Everyone's in this for each other."

"I thought we'd have more back and forth in this game," Marriott said. "But Kelsay did a great job on draws, and the girls did a good job coming to the circle, getting up in the air and pulling the ball down."

Landolfe picked up a hat trick at 14:33, while Leto scored 12 seconds later when she and Ehler beat the Rumson defense back after another Chatham draw win.

Perselay activated the running-clock mercy rule at 14:08 of the first half when she picked up a loose ball around the cage and beat Yorke to make it 10-0.

Leto and Liz Hyde added two more goals before Claire Scarrone finally ended Rumson's offensive futility with 1:40 to play in the first half.

The Bulldogs, in their rare moments of first-half possession, seemed out of sorts, running into checks and turning the ball over near the Chatham cage. Rumson managed 15 shots Thursday, but only 10 were on target for freshman goalie Hannah Reader. Megan Douty scored two of Rumson's three second-half goals.

"Our defense stayed on their toes," Marriott said.

The second half saw more goals from Murray and Landolfe, as well as tallies from Lindsay Ford and Kathryn Maiorano. Murray, who has not lost a game she has played in this season, put the finishing touches on the scoring with an unassisted goal in the final minute.

The win marks Chatham's second group championship in three years; the Cougars won Group I in 2008, beating Shore Regional 10-7 in the final. That year, the Cougars ended up state runners-up, losing to Moorestown in the TOC championship game.

BOX SCORE
Rumson     2  3  -   5
Chatham  12  5  -  17

GOALS
RFH- Megan Douty 2, Claire Scarrone 1, Emily Torcivia 1, Charlotte Brodsky 1
CHAT- Meghan Murray 4, Courtney Landolfe 4, Jaclyn Leto 3, Kelsey Perselay 2, Emma Ehler 1, Liz Hyde 1, Lindsay Ford 1, Kathryn Maiorano 1

ASSISTS
RFH- Chrissy Lushefski 1
CHAT- Emma Ehler 3, Kelsey Perselay 2, Courtney Landolfe 2, Meghan Murray 1, Jaclyn Leto 1, Brittany Marriott 1

SHOTS
Rumson     5  10  -  15
Chatham  16    6  -  22

SAVES
RFH- Jackie Yorke 3
CHAT- Hannah Reader 5