What appeared to be a possible runaway victory turned into a battle for survival when the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Raider girls lacrosse team traveled to Memorial Field in Cranford to face the Cougars onApril 11. Within the first 10 minutes of the game, the Raiders seized a 6-1 lead before the Cougars fought back and made it quite a game in a 9-8 SPF victory.
Juliana Doran (assist, 3 ground balls, 2 draw controls) who led all scorers with six goals, netted half of them in the first quarter when the Raiders took a 6-2 lead. Rachel Levy and Josie Lomonte each netted a goal and an assist. Kayla Murray scored once and added a ground ball and two draws. Erin Ryan dished out an assist and scooped four ground balls. Carina DiLollo scooped three ground balls and had two draws. Grace Cawley had two ground balls. Mia Delaney, Mackenzie Harmer, Emma Chan and Sammie Nocera each scooped a ground ball. Goalkeeper Elissa Steingart recorded 13 saves.
Cougar senior attacker Kristina Lowe flicked in a pair of goals, added an assist and scooped three ground balls. Sofia Lijo scored twice and added a ground ball. Midfielder Lilah Wilhelm had a goal and an assist, and added nine draw control and two ground balls. Lexi Kruk fired in two goals and added two ground balls and a draw control. Co-captain Shea Matheson scooped three ground balls and co-captain Kate Zambito finished with a goal, two draws and three ground balls. Defender Courtney Domber and goalkeeper Ashlyn Quigley (4 saves) each scooped a pair of ground balls. Carly Lynch and Kate Rolser each had a ground ball.
Doran scored the first goal in 49 seconds then Lowe knotted the score just 15 seconds later. With 10:14 left in the quarter, the Raiders took a 2-1 lead then with 8:37 on the clock, Doran stuffed in her second goal. In less than a minute, Levy scored then with 4:50 left in the quarter, Doran created a takeaway, sprinted the full length of the field and rammed in her third goal. Lomonte scored with 1:57 showing to put the Raiders up 6-1, then Lijo pulled off a neat wraparound goal with 50.3 left in the quarter.
The Cougars’ defense tightened up drastically and shut out the Raiders in the second quarter, while narrowing the margin to 6-5 at the half. The score was tied, 8-8, after three quarters but the Raiders scored the only goal of the fourth to salvage the win.
