Defense Falters as Chatham Falls in County Final

The girls lacrosse team lost to Mendham High, 15-11, in the Morris County Tournament championship Wednesday at Roxbury High.
 
The Cougars’ defense struggled to stop Mendham’s high-powered offense all night, most notably Mendham junior Aly Messinger, who scorched Chatham for a game-high seven goals, and Nicole Graziano, who netted three.

Those struggles led to two Mendham scoring runs, as Chatham allowed a 5-0 run in the first half, followed by a 4-0 run in the second.

“They did not play a good game defensively at all,” Chatham head coach Deb Marriott said. “In the first half, and the first part of the second half, we didn’t pressure the ball out the way we were supposed to. We also didn’t send the help in the second slide early enough.”

Chatham held a 4-2 lead early on Tuesday, but spent the rest of the game playing catchup, as Mendham answered each Chatham second half goal, with one of its own.

“We played with a lot of heart,” said Cat McCutcheon, who had a team high three goals in the loss. “We came out here knowing that Mendham was going to be the toughest competitor, it’s always a dogfight. But it came down to the little things, ground balls, draw control, possessions on offense and on defense, and we came up a little bit short. It’s not okay, but we’re not ashamed. We played really, really hard today.

Down 15-8 with just over seven minutes remaining, Chatham put together a late rally as McCutcheon and Jaclyn Leto helped cut the deficit, which was at one point as much as seven goals, to 15-11.  

While the second half surge came up short, it did illustrate the level of character and heart on the Cougar roster, while simultaneously leaving fans wondering what could have been? 

“It’s not over until it’s over and we’ve got a lot to do before the clock hits zero,” McCutcheon said, referring to the Cougars mentality late in the game. “We just wanted to keep firing goals into the back of the net and keep putting on the pressure.”

“I think we could have created a little more on attack,” McCutcheon said. “If we had been punching the seams and moving like we were in those last couple of minutes, I think it would have been our win.”