Montclair Resident Leads MKA ECT Champs

Montclair resident Grace Fitzgerald recently completed a splendid career as a standout defender for the Montclair Kimberley Academy girls lacrosse team.

The veteran senior helped lead the Cougars (17-5) to their first-ever Essex County Tournament championship this past season as the Montclair private school defeated Glen Ridge, 8-4 in the final, May 9, at Livingston High School.

Fitzgerald spoke about the huge MKA victory in defeating longtime rival Glen Ridge for a county championship.

“(Sophomore) Biko McNeil did a great job on (Glen Ridge's) Addie (Townson) and we all worked together to execute our game plan perfectly today,” said senior Fitzgerald, who worked alongside McNeil, senior Julia Flocco and juniors Olivia Davis and Caroline Cuneo to help spearhead the stingy defense in front of the very reliable senior goalie Ella Freeman. “After our loss to them (11-8 on April 6) earlier this season we watched a lot of film and found different things we knew we had to correct.

“A big thing defensively for us was handling the pick and rolls and just working together to stop their 2-man. Biko has a lot of grit and did really good job on Addie, while (MKA freshman) Sloane (Dawes) was great on the draws.

“And, with no shot clock once it got late and we had the lead we looked to keep long possessions and everyone just did their part.”

MKA's otherwise splendid season ended with a 12-6 loss to Pingry in the NJSIAA Non-Public state tournament quarterfinals on June 2.

The Cougars earlier had also won the state prep B-Division Tournament title with a 15-3 domination of Morristown-Beard in the May 21st championship game.