Boys Lax Cruises Into Semifinals After Dismantling Jackson

It was nearly a perfect victory for the Ridgewood boys lacrosse team on Thursday. That is, until Jackson scored with under a minute left to break up what would have been a shutout victory.

That was the kind of day it was for the top-seeded Maroons, who were firing on all cylinders right from the outset, resulting in a 14-1 win over eighth-seeded Jackson in the Group III State Quarterfinals.

Patience and determination in the offensive end and tenacity and toughness in the defensive end resulted in dominating performance that had the entire team playing as a cohesive unit.

After the team scored four goals in the first quarter, including a goal by Kevin Entwistle with 0.6 seconds left. 

Then the Maroons picked it up in the second quarter with a salvo of goals. Five different players scored goals in the quarter, with Max Luing netting three and Connor O’Shea, Jack Allard Vann Jorgensen and Garrett Clarke all chipping in with a goal in the seven-goal 2^nd quarter.

While the offense was certainly doing it’s part, so was the defense, which stifled the Jackson attack all game, many times not even allowing the visiting Jaguars to get a shot off.

 “When you only see a few shots in a game, were doing a pretty nice job. I only had to make a few saves so I’ll take that any day,” said sophomore goalie Noah Pounds. “My defense is doing a really nice job.”

If it weren’t for a goal by Jackson’s Connor Cunningham with 25 seconds to go, the team would have recorded their first shutout of the season.

“Basically what it comes down to is it’s the playoffs and we have to get up for every game,” said Junior defenseman Ryan Ghaderi.  "We’re focused, we feel refreshed and ready to go, better than ever. The way we see it, each game is bigger than the next and every game is that much more exciting.

It’ll only get tougher from here, as the Maroons move on to face perennial contender Moorestown on Saturday, at home.