Chatham Girls' Lacrossse Stays Unbeaten Despite Defensive Breakdowns

The Chatham girls lacrosse team improved to 10-0 with a tight 17-14 win over local rival Madison Thursday afternoon at Haas Field, but coach Deb Marriott was extremely disappointed in the unbeaten Cougars' defensive effort.

"We have a lot to work on," she said. "Our communication broke down today ... and our goalies couldn't come up with saves when we needed them."

The Cougars will have to fix their defensive issues in a hurry: Morris County's marquee girls lacrosse matchup - between Chatham and unbeaten, untested Mendham - looms on Tuesday.

"Next week is going to be really tough for us," Marriott said. "We're going to have some really hard practices between now and then."

Thursday, the Cougars jumped out to a six-point lead on three different occasions, but momentum shifted to Madison's side for the final 10 minutes. The Dodgers pulled within two goals with four minutes to play, but drew no closer.

Meghan Murray was the offensive star for Chatham, scoring six goals, while Kathleen Matthews scored five for Madison.

Madison (4-4) broke down Chatham's defense in the second half, scoring seven goals on 10 shots. The Cougars had played just one game this season decided by fewer than seven goals.

Marriott called timeout with 5:46 to play, after Alli Helwig scored to reduce the Cougars' lead to 15-12. But that couldn't stop the Dodgers' momentum; two minutes later, Helwig pulled Madison within two when she finished off a beautiful feed from Ali Foulsham.

"They motivated themselves," said Madison coach Carole Rawding. "We think we're a good program and a strong team, and this is a longstanding rivalry. I think a game like this could be the turning point in our season."

The Cougars won the ensuing draw and played keep-away until about the two-minute mark, when they won a free position. Madison goalie Shannon Sweeney stopped the shot, but Jaclyn Leto earned another free position on the rebound. The second time was the charm, and Leto scored to make it 16-13 with 1:44 to go.

Chatham had the next chance to wind the clock down or increase their lead, but Kathryn Maiorano hit the post with 54 seconds left.

Matthews scored Madison's 14th goal with 28 seconds left off a free position shot, but Chatham picked up the ensuing draw to put the game out of reach. Murphy scored the game's final goal with one second to play.

Chatham appeared primed to run away with the game at points during the first half and early in the second. They forced Madison into a ton of turnovers early, and turned those mistakes into transition opportunities.

Six different Cougars scored eight goals over a 12-minute span in the middle of the first half, with Murray picking up a hat trick at the 5:09 mark. Murphy scored her fourth two minutes later, on a giveaway by Sweeney—one of two such mistakes by the Madison keeper. At that point, it was 10-5 Chatham and the Dodgers seemed shell-shocked.

"We pressured the ball," Marriott said. "We didn't do that in the second half, when I think they were overthinking where they should be instead of focusing on just playing defense."

Chatham's efficient offense continued its strong play out of halftime, scoring two goals in the first five minutes to go ahead, 13-7. The teams traded goals over the next 10 minutes, and Rawding called timeout with 10:18 left and her team's energy level fading. Emma Ehler had just scored to make it 15-9, but the timeout seemed to give the Madison players their second wind.

Every ground ball seemed to go Madison's way, and Chatham's pressure no longer bothered the Dodgers. Matthews kicked off Madison's late run with a goal at the 9:09 mark, her fourth of the game. Foulsham and Helwig followed with goals at the 7:37 and 5:46 marks, respectively, cutting the lead to 15-12, and prompting a timeout from the Chatham sideline.

Chatham improved its regular-season winning streak to 13 games. Madison has lost four straight games for the first time since 2005.

The Cougars, who were awarded the No. 2 seed in the Morris County Tournament, will open tournament play Saturday at 1 p.m. against the winner of Thursday's play-in game between Mount Olive and Hanover Regional.

BOX SCORE
Madison     7    7  -  14
Chatham   11   6  -  17

GOALS
MAD- Kathleen Matthews 5, Alli Helwig 4, Evan Foulsham 2, Ali Foulsham 2, Chelsea Davies 1
CHAT- Meghan Murray 6, Emma Ehler 3, Kelsey Perselay 2, Cat McCutchen 2, Jaclyn Leto 2, Katherine Maiorano 1, Brittany Marriott 1

ASSISTS
MAD- Alli Helwig 1, Emily Rutland 1, Kathleen Matthews 1, Chelsea Davies 1, Cecelia Matthews 1
CHAT- Emma Ehler 1, Meghan Murray 1, Kelsey Perselay 1, Liz Hyde 1, Jaclyn Leto 1

SHOTS ON GOAL
Madison        11  11  -  22
Chatham       16  11  -  27