Madison Girls Lax Beaten By Mountain Lakes

MOUNTAIN LAKES–The only smiles came from the Mountain Lakes players and their families, standing on the other side of the fence, holding a belated, joyous celebration.

About 10 feet away, on the running track surrounding the Mountain Lakes lacrosse field, the Madison girls lacrosse players and coaches stewed. The Dodgers had been swept aside by Mountain Lakes, 14-8, Monday afternoon, clinching the inaugural NJAC-Freedom Division title for the Lakers on their Senior Day.

"There's not much to say," said Madison coach Carole Rawding. "We had three injured players, we were playing three freshmen, our bus didn't show up, [the bus] got lost in Mountain Lakes, and we didn't show up to play. And that's it."

Ingrid Hermanson and Erin Turkot each scored hat tricks for Mountain Lakes. Kathleen Matthews did the same for Madison, while Alli Helwig and Ali Foulsham added two each.

With two starters unavailable due to concussions - and a third, Helwig, only able to run short distances due to an ankle injury - Madison (9-7, 6-1) came into the title-deciding game shorthanded. Further complicating things, the team bus ran 45 minutes late, delaying the 4 p.m. start to 4:50.

Once on the field, things didn't get much better for the Dodgers. In Madison's previous six defeats this season, they were tied or within one goal late in the second half. But not Monday.

Mountain Lakes (13-4, 8-0) outshot Madison, 32-18, won 15 of the 24 draws, and dominated time of possession. When the Dodgers pulled within two goals 7:26 into the second half, the Lakers called timeout, and promptly scored three straight to take command. If not for a fabulous first half performance by Madison goalie Shannon Sweeney (14 saves in the first; 18 total), it could've been worse.

"We didn't handle the ball well today," Rawding said. "We were one step behind them at all times."

The Dodgers did show signs of life early in the second half, winning the opening draw and possessing for longer stretches of time. Their persistance paid off, with Matthews scoring on a free position and Ali Foulsham firing a high shot into the net to cut Mountain Lakes' lead to 7-5 with 17:34 left.

But Madison's offense sputtered in the face of a swarming Mountain Lakes defense, and the Lakers had more than enough firepower to answer back.

Mountain Lakes scored five of the next six goals over the next 10 minutes, controlling draws and checking the Madison attackers at every point on the field. The home team made it look easy at times in the second half, averaging a goal every two minutes after Madison cut the deficit to two.

Once Kyley Walsh scored off a pretty feed from Erin Turkot, the lead was 12-6 and the game was well in hand with seven minutes left.

The Lakers' lead was just 6-3 at halftime thanks mostly to Sweeney. The junior keeper shined on one possession in particular - an improbable three-minute-long, 10-shot flurry that finally concluded with a goal by Walsh to give Mountain Lakes a 3-1 lead.

Beginning at the 13-minute mark Mountain Lakes' attackers furiously fired on goal, but Sweeney stoned them time after time after time. Mountain Lakes picked up seven consecutive rebounds off of saved shots before Sweeney controlled shot No. 8. But her clearance went just long, and possession went right back to the Lakers.

Walsh made the interception, ran straight to the cage and fired. Sweeney saved it - her ninth save in less than three minutes - but the rebound bounced right to Walsh, who finally put it in the goal.

The Dodgers pulled within 3-2 less than a minute later, the Lakers answered back with three goals in the final five minutes of the half, capped off by Casey Drollinger's free-position with 2:27 to play.

Mountain Lakes became the first NJAC team to score double digits on Madison since the Dodgers' season-opening win over Morristown-Beard (15-11) back on April 1.


NEXT UP
Madison will close out its NJGLL schedule Wednesday afternoon when the Dodgers host West Essex (7-6, 2-5). Game time is set for 4:30 p.m. at Madison High School.

Though Madison could host a state playoff game, Wednesday's game will be the final regularly-scheduled home game for seniors Ali and Evan Foulsham, Rachel Misko, Kathleen Matthews, Chelsea Davies, Lexi Greene and Avery Koep.


BOX SCORE
Madison    3  5  -   8
Mt. Lakes  6  8  -  14

GOALS
MAD- Kathleen Matthews 3, Ali Foulsham 2, Alli Helwig 2, Evan Foulsham 1
ML- Ingrid Hermanson 3, Erin Turkot 3, Casey Drollinger 2, Kyley Walsh 2, Hallie Walker 1, Maddy Seibold 1, Margot Fitzgerald 1, Alex Mintz 1

ASSISTS
MAD- Evan Foulsham 1, Rachel Misko 1, Kathleen Matthews 1
ML- Casey Drollinger 2, Erin Turkot 2, Alex Mintz 1, Margot Fitzgerald 1, Kyley Walsh 1

SHOTS ON GOAL
Madison      6  12  -  18
Mt. Lakes  20  12  -  32

SAVES
MAD- Shannon Sweeney 18
ML- Carly Gniewek 10