Sports
Chatham's Feverish Rally Falls Short in Final
Cougars nearly complete comeback from eight-goal deficit before time runs out.
The girls lacrosse team knew it was in for a fight Saturday against undefeated Moorestown in the Tournament of Champions final.
Falling behind by eight goals didn't help, either.
The Cougars mounted a feverish rally, but fell short in a 12-11 loss at Kean University.
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FINAL
Moorestown (26-0) 8 4 12 Chatham (23-3) 4 7 11It was a game of mirror images. Two traditionally successful, offensively potent teams were playing for the Tournament of Champions title. And it was unbeaten Moorestown that showed its skills in posting a 12-4 lead into the the middle of the second half. With the opening and two additional goals from Carly Taglienti, a hat trick for Steph Toy and pair of goals each for Lindsay Goldblatt and Nikki McMonogle, Moorestown looked like it was going to cruise to the win.
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But Chatham, never giving up, took the last 12 minutes to put the game back within its reach. Barbara Marriott, Mary Kate O'Neil, Lauren Mairano and Kelsey Perselay each scored goals. But it was scoring machine Jaclyn Leto that tallied three goals in four minutes to put the Cougars just one goal behind at 12-11.
Chatham had one last chance when a ground ball ended up in the webbing of Perselay's stick, but time ran out on the Cougars' rally.
"They did a really good job at coming back. One of the things that makes this team so amazing is the heart that they have. They came and left it all on the field today. They didn't want to have any regrets. That was the seniors theme, no regrets. And that is what they did."—Chatham coach Deb Marriott
