Columbia Lacrosse Wins Battle of the Cougars

Following a 14-2 loss to Chatham last week, the Columbia girls got exactly what they needed, bouncing back with a 17-2 win over Montclair Kimberley Academy this afternoon at Underhill Field. The game was never close, and the win put Columbia over .500 again, at 3-2.

Before anyone could even blink, the Cougars were up big, and the game was effectively over.

Melissa Carelli scored the first of her five goals 25 seconds after the opening whistle. Ensuing goals by Meredith Crane and Brooke Norman put the Cougars up 3-0 before three minutes had even run off of the clock.

"I think that today we played much more cohesively. We were looking for one another. It was a much cleaner game. We didn't have the turnovers that we've had in the past," said Columbia head coach Marguerite Dempsey. "After Chatham's disappointing game, I think we just took a step back, recollected our thoughts and tried to figure out what we need to work on to make our team even better."

Becca Frankoski got into the action next, recovering her own rebound and then putting it back home from point-blank range. With 17:25 left in the opening half, both Crane and Carelli had tallied their second goals of the contest and Columbia was up 6-0.

The MKA Cougars broke up the shutout with 14:40 to play in the first, when Tess Meyer found a hole in the Columbia defense and scored. MKA's next score did not come until 14:22 mark of the second half, with Skyler Zlotnick finishing off of a spin move at the top of the circle. Columbia was up 15-2 at that point, with many of their starters on the bench, and the Red and Black holding back a bit.

"The nice thing about it was that when we saw pressure coming on, we were able to pass it off beforehand, so it made the game a lot easier," Dempsey said.

The MKA Cougars had no answers for Columbia's offensive ability. Red and Black ball handlers were able to run to net and get the first step against the defense practically at will. Four of Columbia's final five first-half goals were just MKA's defense getting beat to the net or being outrun downfield. The lone standout was Olivia Mangan's score off of a penalty corner, putting the Cougars up 10-1.

Frankoski was second on the team with four goals, and logged the lone assist. Crane tallied two, as did Norman, while Ginevra Czech, Michela Galante, Mangan and Brianna Medina each scored once.

"There were some mistakes. There was no doubt about that," Dempsey said. "However, once we made the mistake and then we recommitted and got ourselves back on defense, we made sure that we either, one, got the ball or, two, caused some interference for the other team."

The Red and Black girls dominated in every aspect of today's game. They made 11-of-19 shots in the first half, and 6-of-8 in the second half. They won eight of the first nine face-offs, and 13-of-21 overall. Defensively, the Cougars allowed just six shots on goal all contest.

The Columbia girls face an unbeaten Madison team at Underhill on Thursday. MKA, which fell to 1-3, is in action again at Governor Livingston, also on Thursday.