Wednesday, June 8, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Jess Miller scored three straight second half goals as Ridgewood took control on the way to a 14-8 over Chatham in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions on Thursday at Monmouth University.

WEST LONG BRANCH - Facing a two-goal halftime deficit against Chatham, it appeared that the chances of Ridgewood defending its Tournament of Champions title in girls lacrosse was in jeopardy. With standouts Kelci Smesko being face-guarded and Sally Jentis still recovering from a recent bout with mononucleosis, the Maroons had to find someone to jumpstart their offense and find the back of the net. Jess Miller is a player who takes more pride setting up her teammates more than she does scoring herself. But with Ridgewood's season on the line and enough space in the offensive third to operate, Miller looked for her shot more and her teammates are happy she did.

Miller scored three straight times to start the second half, the last of which gave reigning T of C champion and second-seeded Ridgewood a lead it would not relinquish en route to a 14-8 triumph in the over No. 3 seed Chatham on Tuesday in the Tournament of Champions semifinal round at Monmouth University.

"I thought we showed in the second half how we are capable of playing when we're jelling in all phases of the game," said Ridgewood head coach Karla Mixon. "We would like to be both a first and a second half team, but I think the first half actually helped us today. It wasn't that we played that poorly in the first half. They just turned our turnovers into transition goals and it's something we learned from. Possession is key and we had to win every draw, every ground ball, and wear them down with our possession game in the second half which I thought we did a great job of."

Ridgewood had beaten Chatham 15-9 earlier this season, but the Lady Cougars were determined not to meet the same fate this time around. Junior middie Kelsey Perselay scored twice and had a pair of assists as Chatham grabbed a 5-3 lead. Miller and the Florida-bound Jentis scored 40 seconds apart to tie the game at five before the Cougars regained the momentum heading into halftime. Jaclyn Leto scored her second goal of the half to put Chatham back in front.

Sally Jentis was the focus of the Chatham defense, but still finished with two goals for Ridgewood.

Then, in the waning seconds of the half, Lauren Maiorino picked up a rebound on the weak side and bounced it into a wide-open net for a goal on her only shot of the game with 4.4 seconds left in the half as the Cougars took a 7-5 lead. Despite the deficit, Ridgewood did not make many adjustments. It simply focused on doing the little things better and felt everything else would come along if it just executed its plan.

"I don't think we had to change what we were doing, we just had to take care of the ball better," said Ridgewood's Jess Miller. "They were trying to disrupt our offense by taking Kelci (Smesko) and Sally (Jentis) out of it. We did a better job of spreading our offense out wider in the second half, which gave us more lanes to shoot from. We had to spread the wealth and find the holes in their defense. Everyone did a great job in the second half from winning draws to making clean passes, to playing tough defense. We didn't want our season to end, so we had to get become more aggressive."

Winning the possession game starts with the opening draws from midfield. Right from the beginning of the second half, Ridgewood's Renee Olsen won the draw and minutes later, it led to Miller's first goal as she spun around a defender, then beat Chatham goalie Hannah Reader to slice the lead to 7-6. Miller then found the back of the net twice in three positions to give Ridgewood the lead. The best example of what the Maroons' offensive diversity came on their ninth goal when seven different players touched the ball with Miller eventually hitting a cutting Lindsay Weiner in front for a goal to make it 9-7. To show how much the Maroons dominated the possession game, Chatham only had possession four times and did not get off a shot in the first 15 minutes of the second half.


"I can't stress enough how important possession is to our success and the second half showed that," added Mixon. "This isn't the first time that Kelci (Smesko) has been face-guarded and Chatham did that quite well. But it gave us more room for players like Jess (Miller), Linsday (Weiner), and Sam (Giordano) to make things happen. Jess is a player who shoots with great accuracy and she scored some big goals for us today when we needed them."

The score was 10-7 when Ridgewood's defense finally was tested and promptly rose to the occasion. Goaltender Isabel Sipple (six saves) made a pair of big saves and Kylie Donovan picked off a pass on a 2-on-1 break, which eventually led to the first goal of the game for Smesko, a junior who is already committed to Duke, to essentially put the game away.

Miller notched a season-high six goals to go with two assists for Ridgewood (20-1). Weiner finished with two goals and three assists. Smesko and Jentis each scored twice, while Lauren Beausoleil and Maggie Carver tallied a goal apiece.

Renee Olsen and Ridgewood will play Moorestown in the T of C final against Moorestown.

Reader had a solid first half and finished with 12 saves for Chatham, which finished the season with a 20-5 record. Leto scored three times, while Perselay and Mary Kate O'Neill each had two goals.

Last year, it was supposed to be Ridgewood that finally got a shot to break Moorestown's 10-year unbeaten streak in the Tournament of Champions. While Ridgewood got what it wanted in the end with a Tournament of Champions title, it did not get a shot to break the record as Moorestown was upset by Shawnee in the South Group 3 section final. This year provides a different backdrop as Ridgewood beat Moorestown in a regular-season meeting, yet was given the No. 2 seed behind Moorestown for the T of C.

Regardless of the seeds, the two teams will finally meet for all the marbles and the right to be called the best team in New Jersey. That game will take place on Saturday when they square off at Yurcak Field on the campus of Rutgers University with a 1:00 P.M. start.

"We are so excited to play for the title and especially against Moorestown," said an ecstatic Miller. "We know them just as well as they know us. It is very important that we cut down on our mistakes or we could be in trouble if we turn the ball over like we did in the first half today. There will be a lot of pressure on both sides, but it's the kind of pressure we like and we can't wait to get back on the field."

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