Chatham Girls' Lacrosse Suffers First Loss of Season

MENDHAM — You can't win 'em all, especially on the lacrosse field. The Chatham girls' lacrosse team found that out the hard way Tuesday afternoon.

Chatham (10-1) suffered its first loss of the season in stunning fashion to fellow unbeaten Mendham, 16-9, although it was without the services of top player Meghan Murray, who was sidelined with a concussion.

"I really don't have anything to say," said Chatham head coach Deb Marriott. "We played terribly, we didn't take care of the ball and we didn't pressure the ball."

When asked if Murray's absence had anything to do with the loss, Marriott, not one to make excuses, said: "I don't think so. They can do it without her."

Allie Messenger put the Minutemen up 1-0 just 47 seconds into the game. A couple of minutes later, Nicole Graziano, who totaled seven goals on the day, made it 2-0.

"She's very good, she's very good," said Mendham head coach Jessica Schulberg of Graziano.

Seventeen seconds later, Courtney Landolfe pulled Chatham within a goal but Messenger tallied again to make it 3-1 before the game was five minutes old.

"It's always a big game—Chatham's one of out biggest rivalries," said Graziano. "They're a very good team. We just had to bring it today, because even though one of their best players wasn't in the game, we knew they would bring it no matter what."

Graziano's second score of the day gave the home team a three-goal advantage with 17:22 left in the first half, but the Cougars responded with a barrage of shots. Landolfe, Kathryn Maiorano and Cat McCutcheon all had shots stopped, but Landolfe then pulled Chatham within 4-2 on a goal with about 11 1/2 minutes left. However, Mendham got the goal right back as a wide-open Jessie Smith, stationed in front of the net, took a feed from Graziano and deposited it in the net.

"I feel like that our performance was not 100 percent, but it is what it is," said Chatham senior Emma Ehler. "We have a lot of work to do, but we'll play better next time."

The Minutemen tallied twice more to grab a 7-2 lead at the half.

"They're probably the best team we've played thus far," said Graziano. "They're always good competition. We're good friends with a few kids on the team, but once we're on the field,  it's no more friends."

Kate Murphy scored about a minute and a half into the second half but, as was the theme for the game, Graziano countered with a tally of her own. The teams then traded goals before scores from Landolfe and Lindsay Ford closed it to 9-6 with 14:37 left to play.

A pair of Graziano scores made it a five-goal differential with just over 10 mintes left to play, but Jaclyn Leto's goal, off of a free position, cut it to 11-7.

The Lady Cougars failed to get any closer the rest of the way, as the Minutemen rattled off the next four goals to assume an insurmountable 15-7 advantage with 4:37 showing on the clock. Chatham outscored Mendham 2-1 the rest of the way, but it was all for naught as the outcome was never really in doubt.

"Once we got down on offense we really didn't settle it, we tried to run plays but it didn't really work out," said Ehler. "We did score nine goals."