Coming into the season, the South Brunswick High School girls lacrosse team was already a two-time defending champion in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament.
Considering this might be one of the best -- if not the best -- teams in the school's history, that didn't leave much of the other GMC teams a lot of hope.
"I felt pretty confident," South Brunswick Coach John Coppola said. "Even so, I knew it wouldn't be easy."
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South Brunswick defeated Monroe, 16-12, on May 11 to clinch its third GMC title in a row.
"We got off to a good start and was up 5-0," Coppola said. "They made a run at us. It got to 11-9, but we pulled away at the end."
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Jenna Bussiere scored five goals and Angie Goff added two goals. Blaire Nathanson had nine saves in goal.
South Brunswick reached the GMC title game with an 18-5 win over North Brunswick in the semifinals on May 9.
South Brunswick took control of the game early and built a 13-1 lead at the half. Elle Hvozdovic and Angie Goff (two) scored four goals each for South Brunswick. Bussiere scored three goals. Casey Armstrong added two goals and an assist.
The two GMC wins improved South Brunswick to 16-0 on the year.
"This team has the opportunity to have a very special year," Coppola said. "We went undefeated in the conference, won the county tournament and now we're ready for the states."
South Brunswick has the second seed in the North Group IV Tournament. South Brunswick will open the tournament on Tuesday, playing the winner of Montclair/North Brunswick.
"We're not being recognized as a top-20 team in the state yet," Coppola said. "If we win a few games in the states, we'll move up in the rankings."
