Maroons Pound Northern Highlands to Stop Skid

During a season full of close defeats, there was no nail biting for the Ridgewood boys lacrosse team yesterday at Maple Park Field.

On Senior Day, the Maroons' complete effort led to an 11-4 win over Northern Highlands. The victory snaps a four-match losing streak for RHS (6-8), three of which were one-goal defeats.

"This is a team that's grown a lot in the span of three months, and we still have a lot of growth ahead of us," Ridgewood head coach Mike Pounds said. "But today was a good effort. We had good efforts against Mountain Lakes, Montclair and even Mahwah during the losing streak, just not enough to get a win."

Despite their sub-.500 record at today's cutoff, the Maroons will likely be admitted into the state tournament by the NJSIAA's "At Large Committee." Playing what is one of the toughest schedules in New Jersey will help RHS, but for Pounds and his players, the playoffs have already begun.

"We are treating these games like playoff games and this is the way we need to play," Pounds said after yesterday's win. "I'll let the state decide whether or not we make it, but we needed a win today. If we didn't win, we certainly weren't helping ourselves."

The Highlanders scored first, registering 4:27 into the first quarter, but it was all RHS after that. 

Max Luing fed Matt Zacoroli to even the score before Ryan Mansbach dished to Andrew Toner to give the Maroons a 2-1 lead after 12 minutes. RHS took advantage of a 30-second man-up scenario 36 seconds into the second quarter, scoring when Brian Cubellis assisted on Garret Clarke's tally.

Luing's unassisted goal 1:16 into the second, followed by unassisted scores from Luke Cichocki and Mansbach midway through the quarter, closed the door on Northern Highlands.

The Maroons registered another man-up goal when Cubellis fed Clarke for a 7-1 lead with nine ticks left on the first-half clock.

"We scored some goals in bunches there, something we've had a hard time doing at times this season," Pounds said. "It takes a lot of pressure off everyone when you can build a comfortable lead."

In the second half, the locals built an 11-2 lead before the Highlanders scored two late goals.

Alex Branton stopped five NH shots for the win in goal.

After a stretch during which his team played four—Mountain Lakes, Montclair, Mahwah and Summit—of the top eight teams in New Jersey, Pounds gave his squad today and tomorrow off. Ridgewood takes on Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey May 12 at 4 p.m.

"We'll get plenty of work done Monday and Tuesday, and be ready for Bosco," Pounds said. "The guys deserved a couple of days off after the effort they showed the past two weeks and today."