Dodgers Suffer Bitter Defeat To Glen Ridge In North I Final

Even with two senior defensive leaders out for the final 10 minutes, the Madison girls lacrosse team had one run left in them. The Dodgers had rallied to take an improbable one-goal lead with 5:59 to play on back-to-back Ali Foulsham goals, capping a 6-1 run.

Unfortunately for Madison, Glen Ridge got the ball back. And, like a championship-caliber team, it took advantage of Madison's sudden defensive weakness.

Glen Ridge scored five unanswered goals in the last five minutes to upend Madison, 18-14, to win the North Jersey Group I championship Monday at Forest Avenue Field in Glen Ridge.

Alli Helwig scored six goals for the second time in Madison's state tournament run, while Foulsham added a hat trick plus three assists. Sarah Malone scored six of her own for the Ridgers (19-2), who will take on Oak Knoll for the Group I title later this week.

Madison's defensive depth was severely tested when veteran defenders Rachel Misko and Chelsea Davies were each removed from the game after picking up a second yellow card midway through the second half. The call on Misko, who appeared not to make contact with a Glen Ridge attacker in front of the Madison sideline, enraged the Dodgers' bench and coaching staff.

"It's hard to pull out a game like this at the end without three of our defensive starters," head coach Carole Rawding said, referring to Misko, Davies and Lexi Greene, who has not played since suffering a concussion several weeks ago. "That's the story of our season. We were on a roll, we were very much in the game, and then there's a call that swings against us."

But for a while, it seemed possible that Madison (11-9) might not even need a defense to win the game. Glen Ridge led, 12-8, with about 15 minutes left in the second half. The Dodgers consequently won eight of the next nine draws, and were relentless on offense, scoring at will on Glen Ridge goalie Cara Mulligan.

Helwig scored off a feed from Foulsham with 9:50 left to pull Madison within one goal, 12-11, the closest Madison had been since the final minute of the first half.

After Kristen Cousins restored Glen Ridge's two-goal lead, the Dodgers put together an outburst of three goals in 40 seconds to take a 14-13 lead with 5:59 left.

"The girls worked their tails off," Rawding said. "These were two evenly matched teams. I felt we executed pretty well, we controlled our attack as much as we needed to."

Emily Rutland scored on a free position at 6:39, won the ensuing draw, and made a gorgeous pass in traffic to Foulsham, who equalized 13 seconds later.

After Madison won the next draw, Kathleen Matthews dodged behind the Glen Ridge cage, then found a cutting, open Foulsham, who buried her shot in the net for Madison's first lead since the 12-minute mark of the first half.

It looked for all the world that the Dodgers would spring the upset of the top-seeded Ridgers and win their first state title in girls lacrosse. But it all fell apart in the final five minutes as inexperience in the back line reared its ugly head.

Mary Alati evened the score at 14-14 on a free position shot with 4:59 left. Madison won the next draw, but were called for offsides, giving the ball back to Glen Ridge. They wasted no time attacking the Dodgers' depleted defense–sans senior starters Davies, Misko and Greene–and Danielle Lisovicz gave Glen Ridge at 15-14 lead with 4:05 to go.

Glen Ridge won the next draw and stalled for a short while, until Caroline Thiele found herself with an open path to the cage. She converted with 2:43 to go, and Malone finished things off with a pair of unassisted goals in the final minute.

The Ridgers started off each half with a flurry to grab control of the game. In the first half, Glen Ridge opened with three goals on three possessions in the first 5:50. Madison answered back with four straight, but Glen Ridge took an 8-6 lead into halftime thanks to final-minute goals from Lisovicz and Malone.

"We needed to play tighter defense in the first half," Rawding said. "They slipped in on us early."

In the second half, Glen Ridge outscored Madison 4-2 in the first 5:31 to take what appeared to be a decisive 12-8 advantage.

But junior goalie Shannon Sweeney (eight saves) came up with some big stops to keep Madison's hopes alive while the offense figured itself out.

Glen Ridge's 18 goals represent the most any team had scored on Madison all season. The previous high was set by Chatham, in the Cougars' 17-14 win back on Apr. 22.

Monday's game was the final one for Madison's talented group of seniors–Ali and Evan Foulsham, Misko, Matthews, Davies, Greene and Avery Koep. The seniors finish with a career record of 59-20, and were major factors in Madison's deepest state tournament run to date.

BOX SCORE
[3] Madison        6   8   -  14
[1] Glen Ridge    8  10  -  18

GOALS
MAD- Alli Helwig 6, Ali Foulsham 3, Evan Foulsham 2, Kathleen Matthews 2, Emily Rutland 1
GR- Sarah Malone 6, Kristen Cousins 4, Jordan Smith 3, Danielle Lisovicz 2, Cara Goldstein 1, Mary Alati 1, Caroline Thiele 1

ASSISTS
MAD- Ali Foulsham 3, Rachel Misko 1, Chelsea Davies 1, Kathleen Matthews 1, Emily Rutland 1
GR- Mary Alati 4, Danielle Lisovicz 2, Cara Goldstein 1, Sarah Malone 1, Jordan Smith 1

SHOTS
Madison         9  11  -  20
Glen Ridge    15  15  -  30

SAVES
MAD- Shannon Sweeney 8
GR- Cara Mulligan 3