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Sports

RHS Teams Hope to Add Hardware This Weekend

Track, golf teams take league crowns, lacrosse squads go for county titles

The Ridgewood track and field and boys golf teams took home league titles this past week and the lacrosse teams are looking to follow suit with county championship hauls of their own on Sunday.

The Maroons track and field squads collected the Big North Freedom division championships on Wednesday at Hackensack High School while the boys golf squad also grabbed a Freedom division title on Wednesday.

But everybody's working for the weekend, particularly this weekend. It's one of the biggest and busiest this year for Maroon sports. The RHS boys and lacrosse teams will try to double their fun with a pair of county titles, and the two are certainly favored, especially after the boys lost a last minute thrilled to Summit, one of the country's best and the girls continue to wreck opponents.

In a double-header at Mahwah High School on Sunday, the top-seeded girls lacrosse team will first take on second-seeded IHA at 2:30 p.m. and then the top-seeded boys team will take on second-seeded Don Bosco at 5:15 p.m.

The Ridgewood High School baseball team will get its first taste of county tournament this Saturday while the Lady Maroons softball team will try to continue climb the ladder of their tournament.

The baseball team is the 10th seed in the Bergen County Tournament and will take on seventh-seeded Ramapo on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. in Demarest. A win over Ramapo would have Ridgewood take on the winner of 15th-seeded Wallington-second-seeded St. Joseph in the second round.

The RHS softball team will have a big hill to climb on Saturday when it takes on the top-seeded Paramus squad at noon at IHA. If the eighth-seeded Lady Maroons upset the rival Spartans, up next would be a face-off against the winner of fifth-seeded Indian Hills-fourth-seeded Ramsey on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Indian Hills High School in the semi-finals. Neither is a slouch though Ridgewood has found its groove lately and had been considered the pre-season favorite. The talent is certainly there.
   

Boys lacrosse

Ridgewood (11-4) prepped for the county final with a 10-2 victory on Thursday at home against Morristown.

And the Maroons almost ended a 60-game victory winning streak of Summit but dropped a 7-6 decision on Wednesday. Against Morristown Jack Allard led the Ridgewood offense with four goals while Connor O'Shea had three assists. Max Luing chipped in two goals and two assists. In goal Noah Pounds made eight saves to keep Morristown at bay and also shutout the opponent in the first half as the Maroons took a 7-0 lead.

In a battle of two of the best teams in the state, Ridgewood just came that close from ending the longest streak in the state in Summit. The Maroons actually led 3-2 at halftime before the Hilltoppers regained it in the third quarter and Ridgewood found themselves down 5-4 heading into the fourth quarter.

Allard and Luing had a pair of goals each for Ridgewood while Pounds made eight saves in the top flight battle.

Girls lacrosse

The Lady Maroons (14-1) moved across the border to New York state to prep for the county final as Ridgewood took care of Suffern, 18-8, in a border war on Thursday. It was better than the loss to St. Anthony's of Long Island, which ran away with a lead in a matchup of two of the nation's best, giving Ridgewood its first loss in  memory.

Like the boys team, the girls goalies kept Suffern at bay and Ridgewood shutout the opponent in the first half. The Lady Maroons goalie tandem of Isabel Sippel and Zoe Ferguson combined for eight saves in the match.

The Lady Maroons had the game in hand by halftime with an 11-0 lead.
Ridgewood's top scorer, Duke-bound Kelci Smesko, continued ringing up her numbers with eight goals and two assists in the contest. Sammy Giordano added three goals and six assists.

Baseball

Ridgewood celebrated its 10th seed in the Bergen County Tournament with a 4-3 10-inning epic over Hackensack on Tuesday at home. Maroons junior Mike Coniglio scored the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning after a base hit from Cooper Byrne to win the game.

Kevin Sketini picked up the win on the mound for Ridgewood. The game was sent into extra innings after Coniglio RBI in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game a three.

Softball

The Ridgewood squad (13-4) prepped in their own way for the county tourney with a 3-0 victory at Bloomfield High School on Thursday in a battle of former Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League foes.

Lady Maroons pitcher Nicole Hroncich continued her hot work in the circle, this time firing a four-hitter as she got all the support she needed in the third inning.
Ridgewood scored twice in the third and went ahead 2-0. Christine Reynolds smacked a double and had two RBI in the game to back Hroncich. Christina Bicks tallied the other RBI.

To get into the Bergen County quarterfinals, Hroncich pitched a gem as she no-hit neighborhood rival, Glen Rock, 1-0 on May 7.

As it turned out the junior hurler got all the support she needed in the first inning when senior Lauren Tom smacked a Taylor Feuss pitch over the fence for a solo shot. Overall the Lady Maroons would only get three hits, but that was enough to snake by Glen Rock and move on to the quarterfinals.

Boys tennis

Ridgewood had a tough match with Big North rival Paramus, but came out on top, 3-2, on Tuesday on the road.

Thanks to the pair of doubles teams, the Maroons raised its record to 18-1 on the season.

The first doubles of team of Jason Linker/Greg Maslack took the battle with the Paramus doubles while Ridgewood's second doubles team of Derrick Eng/Andrew Motzer came out victorious. Sebastian Schecter, the Maroons third singles player, also took home a victory to support the dual match team triumph.

The Maroons also found out that the team is the third seed in the Group 4 North 1 state sectional and host sixth-seeded Morristown on Monday. Only second-seeded Morris Knolls and top-seeded Livingston (a tennis rival) were higher in the pecking order in the section.

Track and field

The Ridgewood boys and girls team both took home first place in the first Big North Freedom division contest on Wednesday.

Both squads out pointed past Teaneck squads with the boys beating out the Highwaymen 130 1/2 to 99 and the girls outscoring the Highwaywomen, 130-118.

On the boys side Maroons Levin Jennings led the team with victories in the 800 (1:58.57) and the 1,600 (4:21.12). Matt Beausoleil took first in the 110 high hurdles (15.63) and InSoo Hwang in the 400 intermediate hurdles (58.27). James Knight took gold in the pole vault, clearing 11-feet.

On the girls side the Lady Maroons took eight first place finishes home with them led by the 1,600 relay team of Micaela McPadden, Andina Toscano, Hanako Shigenobu and Charlotte Criqui with a time of 4:05.33 outrunning Teaneck.

Sarah DeVita won a pair of events, the high jump (5-feet) and the 100 high hurdles (15.97).

Boys golf

The Ridgewood golf team continued its dominating season with a characteristically solid performance on Wednesday at the Big North Freedom division championship.

At the Valley Brook Golf Club in River Vale, the Maroons came home with the title with a total score of 314, with Paramus a distant 34 stroke behind Ridgewood.
On a par 70 course Dan Soriano was a 3 over par, 73 to take home the Freedom division individual title.

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