Leto, McCutcheon Lead Girls Lacrosse to Title

With only one senior getting regular playing time, this could have been a rebuilding year for the girls lacrosse team. Instead, it's a championship one.

Chatham defeated Rumson-Fair Haven at Robbinsville High School on Thursday, 16-8, to win the Group II title for the second year in a row.

"I was concerned about how young we were coming into the season," Chatham head coach Deb Marriott said. "The girls just worked so hard. The main thing is they wanted it like nothing else."

It didn't hurt that the one senior on the field was Cat McCutcheon, who scored two goals in the Group II final.

"I stepped up as a senior to be a leader, but everyone on the field is a leader," McCutcheon said. "Everyone is coming up big."

Chatham certainly looked like veterans. Not only did the Cougars play a great game and win the Group II title, they emptied the water bucket over Marriott's head like old pros.

The leading scorer certainly came up big. Jaclyn Leto came into the Group II final with 86 goals this season. She added seven goals to her total, including five in the second half when Chatham took over what was a 4-4 game at intermission.

"We moved well on attack and I just happened to get open," Leto said.

Rumson-Fair Haven was within striking distance–down 9-6 with 11:30 to play–when Leto opened up the contest with three goals in less than three minutes.

One of the reasons why Leto was able to strike so often was because Chatham was able to offer up other scoring options. It's hard to just worry about stopping one player when a team has seven different scorers in a game. Kallan Murphy, Kate Murphy and Mary Kate O'Neill all scored twice for Chatham. Liz Hyde also had a goal.

This was the second time in as many years that Chatham defeated Rumson-Fair Haven to win the Group II title.

"We knew they were a great team," Leto said. "We weren't thinking about last year's game (a 17-5 Chatham win). Our goal was to win this game. It's just awesome that we were able to do it. Starting in March, we have all worked so hard for this. It's all worth it."

The season still isn't done. Chatham is two wins away from a Tournament of Champions. Chatham will now play Moorestown on Tuesday at Monmouth University. Chatham was eliminated during the same round last season by Mendham, which lost in overtime to Moorestown in the Group III final earlier in the day on Thursday at Robbinsville.

"I saw a little bit of the Moorestown game and that was amazing," McCutcheon said. "Hopefully, that overtime game tired them out (laughs). We'll come ready to play. We'll do our best to come out in front in that one."

For now, Chatham just wants to enjoy this win.

"It's the best feeling in the world," McCutcheon said of repeating as champs. "You learned you have it in you to do it twice."

Even in what some people might have thought would be a rebuilding year.