Chatham Girls' Lacrosse Ready to Play Together Against Mendham

When Ridgewood, one of the state's top girls' lacrosse teams, ran roughshod over the Chatham girls' lacrosse team May 4 during its 16-9 victory, it was clear that something wasn't working.

"We weren't playing as a team," said Head Coach Deb Marriott. "We weren't playing as a whole team together. We were kind of separating ourselves on the field offensively and defensively."

But since then, things have certainly changed. After a subsequent loss to Shawnee, the team won eight games in a row, defeating Mendham for the Morris County title and beating Rumson-Fair Haven for the state Group 2 championship in the process.

It now finds itself in the Tournament of Champions, where it is one of four teams that is still playing statewide. And today, it will face a familiar opponent. Mendham beat the Cougars earlier in the season before Chatham got its revenge in the county title game, and the teams will meet today for the third time this season at Monmouth University at 3 p.m.

"They're pumped and ready to go," Marriott said. "I think that we have a very healthy, competitive rivalry with Mendham, and the girls look forward to playing a tough team, because it's a more challenging game to play a hard team."

The Minutemen certainly present a tough matchup for the Cougars. In the Morris County championship, Chatham managed to mostly shut down Nicole Graziano, who had seven goals when the teams played during the regular season.

Graziano only had one goal in the county championship, but Marriott said other Mendham players, such as Aly Messinger and Meade Brewster, stepped up to fill her role.

The Cougars will attempt to employ a similar defensive strategy in today's game, but want to make sure they don't just focus on shutting down one player.

"I think, for us, it's going to be a very big defensive game," Marriott said. "We have to take their big guns out of the game and we just have to make sure we can crash early on their shooters. I think it's also going to be a game of possession."

Marriott, as do the team's players, considers the Ridgewood game a turning point. Ridgewood has also made it to the Tournament of Champions and will face Oak Knoll today at 5 p.m. in the other semifinal.

The Cougars weren't playing like a united team early in May, and Marriott said she emphasized that they had to play for the name on the front of their jerseys, not for their individual names that adorn the other side of their uniforms.

"I think after that they bought in," Marriott said. "They just said, 'That's right, we have to turn this around. The only way we're going to be able to do things well is together.' And they really came together after that."

The Cougars also changed up their defensive schemes after the Ridgewood game and welcomed back big-time scorer Meghan Murray, who missed several games with a concussion. Chatham has not lost this year when she's been in the lineup—all three of its losses came without her.

The team has really developed good chemistry over the past few weeks. It's developed a game plan for today's game, and the players believe in the system.

"We know what we have to do," Marriott said. "It's a matter of bringing it."