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Sports

Girls' Lacrosse Romps Over River Dell in First Round

Team loses defender Hillary Allen to injury.

Despite losing a player to injury and a 45-minute weather delay, the Chatham girls' lacrosse team advanced to the second round of the NJSIAA Tournament's North Group II with a 16-1 shellacking of the River Dell Hawks at Haas Field Friday.

No. 1 seed Chatham, which will host eighth-seeded Somerville on Monday at 4 p.m. at Haas Field in round two, saw senior defender Hilary Allen leave the game in an ambulance with 11:48 left in the first half after suffering a concussion and a deep cut on her face that will require stiches. The injury came right before a thunderstorm halted play for 45 minutes.

"She got a concussion and a gash right below her eye," said Chatham Head Coach Deb Marriott. "No, I don't think she will [play again this season]. I think if she has a concussion you can't play her. She's off to the hospital to get evaluated."

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The Lady Cougars wasted no time in getting on the board, as sophomore Jaclyn Leto put one in the goal just 17 seconds into the game. However, the lead was short-lived as the Hawks responded with a score of their own 33 seconds later.

"[I was thinking] that our defense was alseep, they had surprised us," said Marriott.

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Junior Cat McCutcheon ensured that her top-seeded team would not fall victim to an upset as she had a hand in the next four goals, which all came within three minutes. First, she assisted on another Leto score, then she added a wrap-around goal before assisting on senior Kathryn Maiorano's tally and finally scoring off of an assist from fellow senior Meghan Murray to make it 5-1.

"It was just excitement," said McCutcheon. "This is our first round of states and I was kind of fired up and ready to go, but it's a team effort."

From there on out it was all Chatham.

Sophomore Brittany Marriott cut through the defense and scored, McCutcheon added another score, senior Emma Ehler added one and sophomore Kallen Murray hit the top-right corner to make it 9-1 with 13:17 showing on the clock.

Two minutes later, with the ball in their own zone, Allen was defending her opponent when an errant stick caught her in the face. She went down writhing in pain for a few minutes before the medical staff attended to her. After an ambulance drove onto the field to transport her to the hospital, the thunder started.

"She's a very tenacious defender," said McCutcheon. "She is just [full of] just moral support and everything. She's a great player and we hope she'll be back soon."

Following the stoppage in play Chatham picked up right where it left off, albeit with most of the starters on the bench. Freshman Mary Kate O'Neill, positioned behind the cage, fed senior Gillian Murphy, who faked low and went high to make it a 10-1 affair.

"Rain or shine we're ready to go," said  McCutcheon. "We were just very excited. In the state tournament it's one-and-done, so you kind of have to play your best."

Sophomore Jen Lynch and Ehler scored soon thereafter to balloon the difference to 12-1 with 7:38 left in the first half, and Kallen Murray added a goal about three minutes.

"I feel like it was coming down from a really good midfield transition, so it was just a really good team effort overall," said Murray.

Sophomore Megan Helmig and O'Neill closed out the first-half scoring to give the home team a 15-1 advantage at the break.

The Lady Cougars toned it down in the second half except for one Kelsey Fritts goal and killed the clock to punch their ticket to the second round.

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