Girls' Lacrosse Team Falls To Summit 16-3

The Summit girls' lacrosse team snapped the Cranford Cougars' four-game win streak on Monday afternoon with a convincing 16-3 victory.

"Winning four straight games, we definitely had some confidence coming into this game," Cranford head coach Lauren Leddy said. "We played Summit in the first round of the Union County Tournament, so we knew they were good."

Cranford won the game's opening draw and fired a quick shot, but Summit goalie Quinn Baldacci made a good reaction save just seconds into the game. On the following Cougar possession, Cranford came up empty again when a hard shot ricocheted off the post and Summit recovered the ground ball.

Although Cranford goalie Alanna Conte made a pair of early point-blank saves for her team, Summit's offense dominated the next 20 minutes of play. The Hilltoppers maintained possession, won draws, and controlled the flow of the game. In less than one minute, Hilltoppers Molly Leighton, Mary Pomeroy, and Kate Martino scored for their team to give Summit a 3-0 lead with 18:28 remaining in the first half.

The Hilltoppers continued to control draws and score relatively easily on each first-half possession. Summit tacked on five more goals in the next five minutes of play to boost their lead to 8-0 with 13:17 remaining until halftime.

Summit continued to apply pressure to the Cougars' defense and scored four more first-half goals courtesy of Kylie McKenna, Clare O'Malley, and two by Megan Paytas. It seemed as though, when Summit won a draw, they found the back of the net.

When Cranford was able to win the draw and get the ball to their attackers, however, the team scored without a hitch. In the final 3:15 of the first half, Cranford won three draws and scored three times off of two goals by Nicole Kleiman and one by Mai-Lin Choy-Shan. At the half, Summit led 12-3.

"I have every confidence that our attackers can put the ball in the back of the cage against any team," Leddy said. "It's just a matter of winning possession and getting them the ball. Possession is the name of the game against a team like Summit."

With a commanding 12-3 lead, the Hilltoppers continued to focus on winning draws and holding possession in the second half. When Summit won control of the ball, they held onto it for minutes at a time. The Hilltoppers found the back of the net four times in the second half off of goals by O'Malley, Pomeroy, Martino, and Kendall Speno. In the end, Summit won by a final score of 16-3.

"We didn't win as many draws as we needed to, and when they won them, they were able to set up their offense and run our defense around a bit," Leddy said. "Summit moves the ball so well. I hope my girls can learn from their style of play."

Cranford (8-8) travels to Morris Hills High School tomorrow for their 4:30 p.m. game.