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Ridgewood Girls Lacrosse: Maroons Ride Huge Second Half to Beat Glen Ridge, 14-10
By Charlie DeLuca,
12 days ago
Kiera Schwartz looks to make a move in the second quarter against Glen Ridge Credits: Charlie DeLuca
BLOOMFIELD, NJ – The Ridgewood Maroons improved to 5-2 on the season with a hard-fought, comeback victory over Essex County powerhouse Glen Ridge on Monday afternoon. Ridgewood fell behind early, but surged in the second half to beat the Ridgers, 14-10.
Things got off to an inauspicious start for Ridgewood, as Glen Ridge scored the first four goals of the game to take an early lead. The Maroons did not score until the 4:31 mark of the first quarter, when Riese Doherty finally found the back of the net. Ridgewood would score two more unanswered goals from Grace Sullivan and Kayla Joseph to cut the deficit to just a single goal at 4-3 at the end of the opening 12 minutes.
In the second, Ridgewood and Glen Ridge traded goals, with Sullivan and Katie Adams tallying goals for the Maroons in the frame. The visitors found themselves down 7-5 at halftime after Glen Ridge scored with 13 seconds left to take a two-goal lead into the intermission. A gut punch.
At the break, Ridgewood head coach Jim Montegari was apoplectic with his team on the sideline, knowing that they could play better after a less than ideal first half. The second-year head coach wanted the last shot in the first half, as Ridgewood had a chance to tie the game or, at worst, go into halftime down one. Instead, an errant shot resulted in Glen Ridge scoring at the end of the half to go up 7-5.
“I wanted the last shot, and we just went to the goal,” Montegari said. “That moment was the boiling point. Instead of being down one or going in tied, we went into halftime down two. But we regrouped at halftime, so I am happy.”
Ridgewood came out for the second half and totally took control of the game. The Maroons outscored Glen Ridge in the third quarter 5-0, getting goals from Joseph, Kiera Schwartz, and Adams to take a 10-7 lead heading into the final quarter.
With the game flipped on its head, Ridgewood continued their spell of dominance, scoring the first two goals of the fourth quarter from Schwartz and Kailey Kennedy. Glen Ridge did not score until the 4:19 mark, as the Ridgers went nearly 20 minutes of game time between goals.
“We understood our assignments better,” Montegari said of Ridgewood’s defensive unit in the second half. “Our defense stood up. We were communicating better. I thought the slides were there. I just thought the defense clicked better in the second half, and what made them click better is that we had the ball on offense more.”
Adams notched her third and fourth goals of the game to seal the deal at 14-8 before Glen Ridge added two consolation goals with less than 90 seconds remaining. After getting down 4-0 in the first minutes of the game, the Maroons outscored Glen Ridge 14-4 when the game was still in the balance — a complete second half turnaround that Ridgewood needed to avoid losing three out of four.
“Really it was just smarter shots,” Montegari said on the Maroons turnaround. “I mean, initially, we were literally passing it to the goalie or throwing it over or shooting from our back foot.”
As a young team, the Maroons stumbled a bit to start the season. The Maroons have already lost as many games (2) as they did all of last year, and at times Monday, looked like another early season loss for a team with championship expectations. Despite being down early, Ridgewood never looked panicked on the field and continued to execute their game plan, which led to a dominating second half. The performance in the ladder two quarters of Monday’s game against Glen Ridge speaks to the resiliency and talent that Ridgewood still possesses.
“We know we have talent,” Montegari told TAPinto Ridgewood. “[Glen Ridge] jumped out, we just had to regroup mentally. I think the girls settled in and once we started winning draws, we got the ball on offense, and we got smarter. We are a young team, so they had to mentally push through, and they did, which is nice to see.”
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