Draw-Back: Faceoff Struggles Doom Chatham

If there has been a word to describe the girls lacrosse team's magical 2011 season, it would be resilliency.

In the second half of their Tournament of Champions semifinal match-up against Ridgewood, the North Jersey, Group IV champion, however, the Cougars were unable to maintain a halftime lead, and were out-matched in the second half of a 14-8 loss Tuesday evening at Monmouth University in West Long Branch.

Chatham was out-scored 9-1 in the final 25 minutes—with its lone goal coming with 1:12 remaining in the game—as Ridgewood ended the North Jersey Group II champion Cougars' season.

"We had a game plan coming in and we just didn't execute it in the second half," Chatham head coach Deb Marriott said. "In the second half, we did not come up with a draw and that's what killed us."

Trailing 7-5 entering the second half, Ridgewood came out strong from the intermission, taking the lead with 16:32 remaining in the game—8-7—and never looked back, scoring a total of eight unanswered goals.

Chatham had three separate two-goal leads in the first half at 3-1, 5-3 and 7-5, but was unable to hold the lead on all three occasions.

Jaclyn Leto led the Cougars with three goals—including their lone goal of the second half—but it wasn't enough to help Chatham reach the Tournament of Champions final.

Kelsey Perselay and Mary Kate O'Neill each added two goals apiece for Chatham as well, and Lauren Maiorano tallied the final goal of the first half to give the Cougars their third two-goal advantage.

Chatham took a 3-1 lead less than five minutes into the game when Leto netted her first goal of the game.

O'Neill scored off an assist from Perselay with 23:27 remaining in the first half to open the scoring for Chatham, and Perselay quickly added a goal of her own 28 seconds later to give the Cougars the 2-0 advantage.

O'Neill would score again with 16:55 left in the half to put Chatham back on top, 4-3, after Ridgewood tied the game with back-to-back goals.

Just 1:10 later, Perselay gave the Cougars their second two-goal lead when Cat McCutcheon found her streaking down the right wing for the goal.

After Ridgewood scored back-to-back goals again, a potential third goal was waved off as the game remained tied at five.

Leto scored, followed by Maiorano to give Chatham the halftime lead.

Goalie Hannah Reader played one of her best games of the season, given that Ridgewood spent virtually the entire second half in the attacking zone.

"She did a great job, she played fantastically," Marriott said of Reader.

The difference in the game was Chatham's struggles on the draws.

"We were not aggressive enough on the draws," Marriott said.

Brittany Marriott assisted Leto's final goal, which came with 1:12 remaining in the game to make it 13-8. Ridgewood then added a goal as time expired for the final margin.

Still, Marriott was impressed and pleased how the season unfolded.

"I thought this was going to be a rebuilding year for us," she said. "This season exceeded my expectations. I didn't think we were going to do half as well as we did."