Foulsham, Rawding Reach Milestones as Dodgers Girls Lax Rolls

There were milestones aplenty coming out of the Madison girls lacrosse team's 17-2 victory over Newark Academy in the opening round of the North Jersey, Group I state tournament.

There was the player, Ali Foulsham, who scored six goals, including the 200th of her career. And then there was the eighth-year coach, Carole Rawding, who recorded her 100th career victory.

But for the Dodgers, Friday's win at Madison High School is just the first landmark on the path to a state title.

"The girls want to play the best they've played all year, right now," Rawding said. "We wanted to play a solid 50 minutes, because we haven't played 50 full minutes in some of the games we've lost."

Alli Helwig scored four goals and Emily Rutland added a hat trick for Madison (10-8), who rolled to a 14-0 halftime lead against the 14th-seeded Minutemen (11-6). The Dodgers will host either Kinnelon or Pequannock in Tuesday's North Group I quarterfinal.

It was Foulsham, the talented senior attacking mid who will continue her lacrosse career at Penn State next season, who proved unstoppable around the cage. She said she had been unaware of her career scoring total - 195 at game time - but racked up the goals in rapid succession.

"It means a lot, obviously, but I couldn't have done it without my teammates," Foulsham said. "It's cliche to say, but it's true."

"She's always known how to find the cage," Rawding said. "But Ali also works so well with the team, with our diverse and talented shooters. She got to 200 goals without being selfish, and I like that the most."

Foulsham picked up her fourth - on four total shots - with 9:50 to play in the first half, giving Madison an 11-0 lead.

It seemed inevitable that the milestone goal would come before halftime, and sure enough, six minutes later, Foulsham found the net once again. An attempted pass to the front of net and a waiting Chelsea Davies sailed wide. Foulsham, standing about five yards from the cage on the opposite side of the cage, made a heads-up play to retrieve the ball and, in one motion, fired it past Leigh Wolfson.

Foulsham, still unaware of her accomplishment, gradually figured it out.

"I wanted to fill up my water bottle after that goal, but coach wouldn't let me," Foulsham said. "So I knew something was up. Then she announced it at halftime. It was surprising, but it was very nice."

Rawding had the ball removed from play, and made an announcement to the Madison cheering section at halftime. Foulsham scored her sixth goal of the game 10 minutes into the second half before being substituted.

"It's been a gift to both of them," Rawding said, referring to Ali and twin sister Evan, whose own goal tally reached 160 recently. "They've both been part of the backbone of this team for four years. We could see it right away, that they would be impact players who give 120 percent at all times. So it's not surprising at all to see them score like this."

The coach herself celebrated a milestone, winning her 100th game. Her players celebrated with a Gatorade shower after the game, and in turn Rawding had kind words.

"It's a nice number, but I've had some really strong players," Rawding said. "It's been a pleasure to work with them all. And I'm happy to share the milestone with Ali. This senior group is really clicking, and I'd like them to keep winning."

The senior class has had a great run of success under Rawding; the Dodgers won 16, 18 and 14 games in their freshmen, sophomore and junior seasons.

Madison also had a great run of success early on Friday against Newark Academy. The Dodgers averaged a goal per minute in taking a 7-0 lead with 18:25 to play.

The tone of the game was set by Rutland, who scored to make it 2-0 just 1:40 in when her pass from behind the cage was deflected right into the net by Wolfson.

The Dodgers made it look easy early on, scoring at will and in bunches. Helwig, who is still somewhat hobbled by a sprained ankle, scored three and assisted on another in the first 15 minutes before leaving to rest her injured foot.

Madison, in large part because of Rutland's draw work, won 13 of the 15 draw controls in the first half, and they outshot Newark Academy 19-6 in the period.

Davies made it 14-0 with 1:40 left, off a feed from Kathleen Matthews.

Newark Academy's Laura Kleiber put the Minutemen on the board early in the second half, but the second half flew by without many goals as Rawding allowed some of her up-and-coming underclassmen to get some experience.

"We haven't had a chance to work in younger girls this season like we have in years' past," Rawding said. "This is great experience for them, to play in a state game."

One of those players, freshman Ali Jago, scored to make it 16-1 with 18:25 to go.


NEXT UP
Madison will face a familiar foe no matter who ends up traveling to Madison High School for Tuesday's 4 p.m. North Group I quarterfinal.

Sixth-seeded Kinnelon and No. 11 Pequannock will play Saturday in Kinnelon for the right to a rematch in the state tournament. Madison beat Kinnelon 20-9 May 4, and the Dodgers upended Pequannock 17-7 on April 27.

Looking further ahead in the bracket, Madison could face another rematch in the sectional semifinal; the No. 2 seed in North Group I is Mountain Lakes, who dispatched the Dodgers 14-8 on Monday.

BOX SCORE
Newark A     0  2  -    2
Madison     14  3  -  17

GOALS
NA- Laura Kleiber 2
MAD- Ali Foulsham 6, Alli Helwig 4, Emily Rutland 3, Evan Foulsham 2, Chelsea Davies 1, Ali Jago 1

ASSISTS
NA- None
MAD- Evan Foulsham 2, Kathleen Matthews 2, Emily Rutland 1, Chelsea Davies 1, Alli Helwig 1, Ali Foulsham 1

SHOTS ON GOAL
Newark A     6  6  -  12
Madison     19  6  -  25

SAVES
NA- Leigh Wolfson 8
MAD- Shannon Sweeney 8, Sally Curtiss 2