Thursday, April 30, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Ana Drehwing scored four goals and had three assists for Ramap, which knocked off Fair Lawn, 15-4 to improve to 10-2 on the season.

FAIR LAWN -- Girls lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in New Jersey. Programs have been sprouting up in a variety of districts over the past five to 10 years and what it has created is a distinct pecking order in the strength of the programs. There are the new ones trying to become competitive, the established teams trying to hold their positions and then there is the chase to catch Ridgewood, the long-standing and unquestioned power in Bergen County. Ramapo is part of that chase pack.

With a 15-4 win over Fair Lawn on Thursday, Ramapo showed the separation between it and most of the other NBIL teams, improved to 10-2 on the season and kept its momentum going heading into the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament where it will play IHA on Sunday.

“We’ve been really progressing well the last couple of weeks in how we are playing and how we are executing our game plans and our strategy and today we were able to work on some parts of our game that still need improvement,” said Sue Montegari, who is in her first season as Ramapo’s head coach. “I am really excited for IHA and these girls are too. IHA is a talented group of girls and it is going to be a nice challenge to see how we match up with them.”

Jaime Boyert scored three of Fair Lawn's four goals.

Ramapo took a 10-2 lead by halftime against Fair Lawn (6-4) and coasted in the second half. Senior Ana Drehwing, in her fourth year on the varsity, scored four goals to lead the Green Raiders.

“Every game we try to take as seriously as we can, but you can help but thinking about IHA on Sunday. That is going to be a big game but we had to win this one first,” said Drehwing. “We got this win and now we can really focus on IHA in our next few practices. I think this year we have been really growing as a team. We have a new coach and we are really starting to gel together and the key is just good, selfless teamwork.”

One of the areas where the Green Raiders have improved since the start of the season under Montegari, a Ridgewood grad who took over for Pat Jackson this season, is in the transition game. Ramapo’s passing ability and speed in middle of the field gave it an obvious advantage against Fair Lawn.

“Our transition has really come together. We are not just putting blinders on and running down the field, we are really looking for each other, and using each other. The ball moves faster in the air and we are really starting to understand that,” said Montegari. “We’ve got a lot of workhorses out there that are creating that space and cutting back to the ball. We’ve got Morgan Sissler, Ana Drehwing, and Bree Ricker and they are really creating that space in the midfield that we need and that is why the ball has been able to transition through. Jackie Boswick has done a fabulous job, too.”

Jackie Boswick had three goals for Ramapo.

Ramapo, whose to losses (to Ridge and Northern Highlands) have come by a combined three goals, spread the goal-scoring around against Fair Lawn. Drehwing led the way with her four goals and added three assists. Kiara Boswick had three goals and Jen Ramsden, Bree Rickert and Taylor Vancalcar all scored twice. Shannon Larson and Maria Toscano each added goals. Jackie Boswick and Morgan Sissler each finished with three assists and Toscano had two.

“It is really hard to stay focused when you get off to such a big lead, but we can look at these games as like a good practice for the big game against IHA,” said Jackie Boswick. “What we have to do against IHA is the same as what we did today. We followed our defensive plan, our transition and midfield was great and we did well on the attack. We got open and we got goals.”

For Fair Lawn, which fell to 6-4 on the season, Jaime Boyert scored three of her team’s four goals while Alyssa Scarnaty had the other. Melissa Vander Teems made two saves in goal for the Cutters while Ashley Keene was impressive in net for Ramapo, making 12 first half saves. Shannon Brady made six saves in the second half for the Raiders, who can now officially turn their attention to the Bergen County Tournament semifinals.

“We try to take it one game at a time, but that has been kind of hard with IHA looming in the background,” said Ramsden. “We are really coming together as a team and this has a chance to be a really exciting season for us.”

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