Wood Girls LAX Advances to State Championship

MENDHAM—A few months ago Ridgewood's head coach Karla Mixon was asked if this year's girls lacrosse team was the best she's had during her tenure.

Mixon replied cautiously saying, "They certainly have the potential to be great," before adding, "We have the experience, the skill and the tenacity to be a really solid team, but we haven't won anything yet, so we'll just have to wait and see."

The 2010 Ridgewood girls lacrosse team already put that debate to bed by winning the school's first ever Group 4 title a week ago, but it now seems intent on adding an explanation point.

On Wednesday the Maroons defeated Oak Knoll 19-8 in the tournament of champion's semifinals to advance the state championship where they will face West Morris of Mendham this Saturday at Rutgers University.

"They made history!" Mixon said. "Ridgewood's never had a team that's made it this far, and it couldn't have happened to a better group of girls. They come to work everyday in practice with the focus of a champion, and it's truly been a joy to watch them play this season."

The Maroons showed off some of that focus and fortitude against the Royals as they turned a relatively close game in to an old-fashioned blowout. After Oak Knoll cut the score to 6-5 with 3:57 left in the first half, Ridgewood responded with a 12-0 run over the next 19 minutes to put the game away.

Senior cocaptain Allie Bonanno had this to say about the team's turn around:

"We were able to keep our composure after the slow start, which allowed us to play our game with a lot more effectiveness. We spread the offense out and were a lot more patient when looking for the cutters in open space, but bottom line we knew we had to win this game and we weren't going home empty handed," said Bonanno, who netted two goals and an assist.

Offensively Ridgewood received standout performances from a number of girls, including Samantha Cermack, Kelci Smesko, Sally Jentis, Paige Person, Samantha Giordano, Jess Miller and Isabel Marx—who all scored. Cermack and Smesko each led the way with four goals apiece.

Defensively the Maroons were just as strong, thanks to an attacking unit that never let the Royals get comfortable. Goalkeeper Isabel Sipple turned away 10 shots on the day, but was never truly under duress thanks to the outstanding effort she got from her frontline of defender,  led by Abbey VanHorne, Caitlin Daly, Spencer Morgan, Caitlin Alvaro, Kiley Donovan, Taylor Pederson and Courtney Tarleton.

The play of the day went to Tarleton, who made a terrific, 90-yard dash on the Oak Knoll goal before dumping off a perfectly placed pass to Pearson for the score. The sequence of events came with Ridgewood desperately clinging to a slim advantage after the Royals went on a 3-0 run to cut the score to 6-5.

However, the play seemed to ignite the Maroons as they now hope to carry that same momentum to Rutgers where they will face West Morris of Mendham for the State championship this Saturday at 1PM.

Due to a rain out yesterday, Ridgewood actually played Oak Knoll on Mendham's home turf to give the Minutewomen a convenient opportunity to do some scouting. The logistics might leave some coaches crying foul, but not Mixon.

"I'm fairly certain they would've come and watched no matter where we played so that doesn't concern me. I've seen them play, and we have plenty of tape on them as well, so we're going to get together and start picking them apart to develop our game plan."

The victory moved Ridgewood's record to 21-1 on the season as it looks to finish its historic run with a state championship.