The Montclair girls lacrosse team had a half and a quarter to forget as the calendar turned to June in the state semifinals.
The fourth-seeded Mounties led 5-4 at top-seeded Ridgewood with seven minutes remaining in the first half on June 1 in the North Group 4 state semifinals.
But Montclair would see the powerful Maroons offense take over pretty much the rest of the way as the Mounties dropped a 20-9 decision in the semifinal. Montclair finished its season at 9-10. Coming into the semifinals, the Mounties had upset fourth-seeded Westfield, 11-10, in the quarterfinals.
Mounties sophomore Olivia Nicoll led Montclair in scoring with three goals. Senior Meghan Crane and sophomore Aven Hodgson added a pair of goals for the Mounties.
But it could not match Ridgewood’s top scorer, Lindsey Devir, who sliced through the Montclair defense with a game-high seven goals.
Despite the lopsided score, the Mounties issue was not in the faceoff circle as the combination of junior Hannah Saraisky and junior Lizzy Giordano were working perfectly to set up the Montclair offense.
But turnovers and Ridgewood goalie Morgan McGahan foiled the Mounties offense’s attempt to get to a state final.
The proverbial roof started falling on Montclair in the final minutes of the first half as the Maroons scored six straight goals.
The Mounties could never fully recover in the second half. Montclair senior Megan Previdi scored her lone goal of the game to slice the Ridgewood lead to 14-8 with 13 minutes remaining in the contest.
But the Mounties could not build on it as the Maroons blitz went into full force the rest of the way.
Montclair would see Ridgewood score six straight goals in the next eight minutes that would end the Mounties season.
Crane would score her second goal of the game to end the scoring with 90 seconds remaining in the contest.