Madison Girls Lacrosse Wins Season-Opener

DENVILLE - There was a lot to like in the Madison High School girls lacrosse team's season-opener at Morris Catholic Thursday.

The Dodgers controlled twice as many draws (18-9), scored in transition, and scored seven straight first-half goals to take a comfortable lead. It all added up to a 15-11 victory over the Crusaders.

Ali Foulsham scored four goals, while Chelsea Davies and Alli Helwig added three each for Madison (1-0), which opened with a win for the fourth consecutive season.

But coach Carole Rawding isn't satisfied with the win: she expects excellence from the Dodgers, who have nine returners from the team that went 16-4.

"We have nine back, but we're working on filling in with some of the younger girls," Rawding. "We need them to start working and stepping up over the next couple weeks."

There were plenty of first-game jitters and kinks to work on, the Madison coach said. Namely, the Dodgers will have to cut down on their turnovers and communicate on defense.

But Madison was able to scrape by Thursday. The Dodgers took control late in the first half, scoring seven goals in a nine-minute span, while holding the Crusaders (0-1) scoreless.

Included in that run was three straight goals by Davies–two were assisted by Kathleen Matthews, the other came off a spectacular no-look, over-the-shoulder pass from Helwig that perfectly set up the senior midfielder in front of net.

"Kath just connected with me, and Alli knew I was behind her," Davies said. "We're just so used to each other, since we've played so long together."

Even after Morris Catholic picked up a pair of goals in the final minute of the first half to go into the locker room down 8-4, things seemed well in hand for Madison. Matthews finished a perfectly-run five-pass possession 90 seconds into the second half.

"That was our transition game," Rawding said. "We didn't see that much today, but at the end of the year last year, we were great in transition. We need to get back to that."

Goals by Ali and Evan Foulsham gave the Dodgers an unassailable 11-4 lead with 15:46 to play.

But Morris Catholic, which ended last season 14-5, would not go away so quietly, in large part thanks to the efforts of Kelsey Shannahan, who scored six of her seven goals in the second half.

"She's got good speed and excellent footwork," Rawding said. "Very tough to defend."

The Dodgers began to turn the ball over, started losing control of the draws, and could not solve the speedy Shannahan.

The Morris Catholic senior scored three consecutive goals to cut Madison's lead to 12-9 with 4:45 to play. The Crusaders had a golden chance to cut it closer, but Shannon Sweeney stopped a point-blank shot from Natalie Migoya with 3:30 left.

"They got them in front of the cage and the defense let them go too many times," Rawding said.

"We need to communicate better on defense," Davies said. "We were losing the cutter sometimes, and it's something we definitely need to improve on."

But Matthews scored on Madison's next trip down, and Helwig scored with 2:04 to play to put the Dodgers ahead, 14-9.

Sweeney, a junior who was the backup goalie last year, stopped nine of the 20 shots she faced.

Shannahan scored twice and Ali Foulsham scored once in the final 26 seconds, and the Morris Catholic attacker's free position goal as time expired cut the Dodgers' margin of victory to four.


NEXT UP
Madison finishes its two-game, season-opening road trip Monday at Morristown-Beard. The game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start.

The last time the two teams met, Madison coasted to a 20-7 win in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Morris County Tournament.

The Crimson have yet to play this season, and are scheduled to open their season Saturday against Villa Walsh.

SCORING SUMMARY
Madison (1-0)           8  7  -  15
Morris Cath (0-1)   4  7  -  11

GOALS
MAD- Ali Foulsham 4, Chelsea Davies 3, Alli Helwig 3, Kathleen Matthews 2, Evan Foulsham 2, Emily Rutland 1
MC- Kelsey Shannahan 7, Analise Bott 3, Natalie Migoya 1

ASSISTS
MAD- Kathleen Matthews 4, Alli Helwig 2, Emily Rutland 1, Amelia Murcott 1
MC- Analise Bott 2, Lisa Fitzgerald 1

SHOTS ON GOAL
Madison          10  17  -  27
Morris Cath     6  14  -  20

SAVES
MAD- Shannon Sweeney 9
MC- Emily Van Horn 12