Madison Girls Lacrosse Overcomes Slow Start

Frustration was visible for the Madison High School girls lacrosse team. After Villa Walsh's Jennifer Racanelli scored a goal with 1:50 remaining in the first half, a Madison player threw her stick down to the turf in disgust.

The Vikings, heavy underdogs in Monday afternoon's NJAC contest, had pulled within two goals; the Dodgers, unbeaten and mostly untested, were pressing, forcing passes and shots into traffic.

"We came out flat, plain and simple," said Madison head coach Carole Rawding. "The girls were very dissatisfied with their play in the first half."

But things would change quickly. Soon enough, Madison returned to its usual form of crisp passing and getting the ball in prime shooting range. Once that happened, it was all over.

The Dodgers (4-0, 4-0 NJAC) scored 13 consecutive goals en route to an 18-4 victory over Villa Walsh Monday afternoon at Madison High School.

Ali Foulsham led the Dodgers with seven goals and three assists. Evan Foulsham scored four more, while Kathleen Matthews and Kayla Fennelly added three goals each.

Ali Foulsham benefited the most from Madison's second-half resurgence, scoring four straight goals in five minutes, extending Madison's lead to 12-3 with 20 minutes left in the second half.

But the second half was a total team effort. The Dodger attackers started working the outside of the field, opening up passing lanes and letting the skills of the Foulsham twins–and Fennelly, a talented freshman who scored her first career goals Monday–take over around the cage.

"There was no rush in the second half," Rawding said. "She had that patience. Ali can get to the net, and we have a lot of players who can do that. It's kind of a blessing as a coach."

The Foulsham twins combined for double-digit goals for the second straight game, after tallying 12 in the blowout win over St. Elizabeth last Friday.

On the rare occasions Villa Walsh (1-2, 0-2) threatened Madison goalie Shannon Sweeney (who stopped six of the 10 shots she faced), the defense stood firm, winning ground balls and clearing the ball away to kick-start Madison's deadly transition game.

It was a stark contrast to Madison's scuffles over the first 24 minutes of the first half, after which Madison's lead was just 5-3. The Dodgers had taken 15 shots, and controlled seven of the first eight draws.

But Villa Walsh defended excellently, trapping the Madison attackers in a triple-team around the goal and checking effectively to force turnovers.

"We weren't expecting them to come out so strong on defense," said Ali Foulsham.

It was rough going early on for the Dodgers, who began to rush shots and make ill-advised passes into traffic.

"It's just us not thinking, that's all," Rawding said. "We were trying to force something that wasn't there, and we ran into the triple-team. When you force, you don't score."

Momentum shifted with three Madison goals in the final 60 seconds, as the Dodgers upped their intensity. Kathleen Matthews scored her third goal of the game with 49 ticks left in the first half.

Ali Foulsham won a free position half a minute later, and her shot beat Villa Walsh goalie Grace Hartley with 17 seconds left.

After Alli Helwig controlled the ensuing draw, the ball found its way to Foulsham, who flipped it to sister Evan, who scored her second goal of the game with four seconds to spare, giving Madison an 8-3 lead.

Just like that, the frustration was gone, and the rout was on.

"We played at our pace in the second half," Foulsham said. "We spread them out a bit so they couldn't double and triple us in the middle. And we made better decisions with the ball because of it."

Madison reached a 10-goal advantage by the 18:44 mark, and casually added to that lead every few minutes. Villa Walsh finally pulled a goal back with 3:08 to play.

The Vikings were denied a fifth goal on a miraculous save by Sweeney late in the second half. The Madison goalie left her area to retrieve a loose ball.

She flung the ball away from the goal, but it was intercepted by a Villa Walsh attacker, who appeared to have a shot on the goal vacated by Sweeney. But the keeper sprinted back just in time to block the shot with her stick while on the move.

"Shan is developing into a very fine goalie for us," Rawding said. "When you watch some of the better goalies around, you notice that they have more and more mobility. It was a good goalie play. It was her ball. So we were all excited for her that she went out of the cage and took hers."

NEXT UP
Madison's schedule will gradually ramp up in difficulty over the next week or so, with showdowns with Morris County powers Chatham and Mendham looming at the end of April.

The Dodgers hit the road Thursday to take on a very solid Columbia team in the first of three straight non-conference games.

The Cougars (2-2) are coming off a 14-2 loss to Chatham, one of the top teams in New Jersey. The other loss came on the road against a good Glen Ridge squad, 12-11, in Columbia's season opener.

BOX SCORE
Villa Walsh     3   1  -    4
Madison         8  10  -  18

GOALS
VW- Jennifer Racanelli 2, Allesandra Catizone 1, Candace Pallito 1
MAD- Ali Foulsham 7, Evan Foulsham 4, Kathleen Matthews 3, Kayla Fennelly 3, Alli Helwig 1

ASSISTS
VW- None
MAD- Ali Foulsham 3, Kayla Fennelly 1, Emily Rutland 1

SHOTS ON GOAL
Villa Walsh    6    4  -  10
Madison       18  22  -  40

SAVES
VW- Grace Hartley 11, Elizabeth Vacchiano 11
MAD- Shannon Sweeney 6