Girls' Lacrosse Takes Revenge on Mendham, Claims County Title

ROXBURY — Freshman goalie Hannah Reader withstood a late run from the Mendham Minutemen as the Chatham girls' lacrosse team edged its bitter rival, 11-10, in the Morris County Tournament championship at Roxbury High School.

"Hannah did fantastic—she came up with 13 saves off of 24 shots," said Chatham head coach Deb Marriott. "She really, really delivered today and she didn't lose her composure."

The team's offense was also clicking on all cylinders as sophomore Jaclyn Leto and seniors Meg Murray and Kathryn Maiorano each scored three goals in the triumph. Senior Courtney Landolfe had a goal and a pair of assists, while senior Emma Ehler also scored for the newly-crowned county champions.

"We were really prepared for today," said Marriott. "We knew what we had to do."

The game was close early on, as neither team led by more than a goal throughout the first half. Then, with about six minutes left and Chatham leading by one, Reader made five saves in the span of three minutes to keep the Cougars ahead.

"I was just not trying to get self-absorbed and trying to make sure that I take those saves and move on to the second half," said Reader. "March 17 [Saint Patrick's Day] is my birthday—I'm the luck of the Irish."

Nicole Graziano tied it up with just under three minutes showing on the clock in the first half, but Leto's score in the half's waning minutes gave Chatham a 5-4 advantage heading into the break.

"One of the things we did change about our game is that we wanted to shut down Nicole Graziano," said Marriott. Graziano finished with one goal on the night, a stark contrast from the seven she posted during Mendham's 16-9 victory over Chatham April 27.

It appeared the Cougars had this one in the bag as they opened the second half with a 4-0 run to seemingly take command of the game.

Maiorano started things off when she scored at the 22:37 mark of the second stanza. Just over a half minute later, Landolfe weaved through the defense, absorbed a blow to the head and shot low to give the Lady Cougars a 7-4 cushion. Goals from Leto and Maiorano, both following free possessions, ballooned Chatham's lead to five goals with 20:19 remaining in the contest.

"That was the key," Marriott said. "I always tell the girls it's a game of possessions and they have to come up with it, and they definitely did."

The lead, however, came as quickly as it went.

Meade Brewster scored a couple of goals off of free possessions, Gia Padavano added a tally and Aly Messinger went five-hole—all in the span of three minutes—to close it to 9-8 with 11:46 left in regulation.

"We just kind of sputtered a little bit in the second half and they got the free possessions, but for the most part these girls played hard today and that was great," said Marriott. "I was just thinking 'let's not give up' and 'let's keep doing it.'"

Twenty seconds after Mendham cut it to one goal, Murray dashed through the middle of the attack zone and scored on a bounce shot to give Chatham some breathing room. Following a huge save from Reader on a Mendham free possession, Maiorano's low shot put the Lady Cougars up 11-8 with 6 1/2 minutes left to play.

"I was like 'no, this is not going to happen,'" said Reader.

A goal from Brewster and one from Messinger cut it to 11-10 with 1:54 left, but, as was the theme for the game, Reader came up huge again. After a big save, she cleared the ball and Chatham kept it in Mendham's zone for the final 50 seconds of play to seal the victory.

"It was really intense because this is my first year and, at the final seconds, I was freaking out," said Reader. "I knew that our girls could do it because we had it in us the whole time."

After conquering the county tournament, the Lady Cougars' next mission will be to take the NJSIAA state tournament by storm. Chatham, which claimed the top seed in North Jersey Section II, will face 16th seeded River Dell at 4:30 p.m. on Friday at Haas Field.

"This is like a dream come true," said Reader. "I just hope it keeps on going."