RUMSON — The Rumson-Fair Haven girls lacrosse players are beginning to look as dominant as they were last season when they hoisted up a Shore Conference Tournament title.
However, that wasn’t the case when the Bulldogs lost three games in the month of April. Two of those games coming to America Division partners Trinity Hall and Manasquan.
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Now after a steamroller 15-6 win over Red Bank Regional Tuesday in the SCT quarterfinals, things are looking up. The Bulldogs (14-6) hear the murmurs of the potential collapse of a powerhouse and they’re ready to prove everyone wrong.
“It just fuels our fire,” said Loyola University Maryland commit Rachel James. "We’re so gritty and everybody kind of prays on our downfall and we want to just prove that we’re always a dominant team and we want to prove that this year.”
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What's next
Rumson will have a rematch with Manasquan (11-5) in the SCT semifinals on Thursday and Trinity Hall (13-4) will meet Shore Regional (12-6).
Manasquan won its quarterfinal over Middletown South 14-6; Trinity Hall defeated Manalapan 14-2 and Shore upended Southern 12-6.
The championship game will be Monday.
A farewell gift for departing senior Abby Boyle?
James finished the game with three goals and two assists. She’s one of 15 juniors on the Rumson-Fair Haven team. She and her teammates say they want to get another SCT title for their lone senior and Ohio State University commit Abby Boyle.
“(It’s) so important, she’s a beast, she’s unstoppable all in the circle and the draw, we want to give it all to her, she deserves it,” said James when asked how important it is to win for Boyle.
For Boyle, she was on the Bulldogs' team last year that rarely saw much resistance in the conference. Now the tables have turned and she and her teammates have the mindset of underdogs heading into the SCT Final Four.
“Everybody has not been expecting us to not come out as strong as we did last year,” said Boyle. “We’re such a young team, we lost 13 seniors last year, I’m the only senior this year, so I don’t think anybody has as much faith in us… we’ve just been fired up from all the losses this year. I do think we’re strong enough to come out and win the Shore Conference again.”
Daisen Iwan led the Bulldogs with four goals and Kat O’Connor had three goals. The "Battle of Ridge Road" result more than anything may have been a product of the high-level schedule Rumson faced this season.
“We had a closer game with them earlier in the season so we wanted to be a little bit better than that game,” said R-FH head coach Amy O’Keefe. “We’re trying to take our losses and get better from them. We had a tough schedule this year and we’re hoping that’ll carry us through and make us better.”
Rumson-Fair Haven is battle-tested, has tasted defeat and faced adversity. But has Bulldogs have some momentum going at a critical time of the season.
Here’s a team analysis based on what we saw in Tuesday's game:
Bulldogs strong junior class leads the offense
With 15 juniors on the roster, the Bulldogs will have this year and another year to develop most of their talent. On Tuesday, five different Bulldogs found the net scoring in a multitude of ways. Whether it’s O’Connor running the break down the field, James with a strong shot from anywhere, or Iwan getting the rebounds, Rumson can score in a lot of ways.
The biggest strength of their offense is not only the fact they have a lot of motion and the ball is never idle, but they are all unselfish passers.
“I just pride on teamwork and just working for each other and have the common goal of getting the championship,” said O’Keefe. “I think balanced is better.”
Defense turns into offense
Although the greatest strength for the Bulldogs is their offense, their defense shouldn’t be slept on. Their midfielders in James and Iwan are able to stop teams from being able to get the ball to their offense.
“Daisen stepped up today, she’s really valuable on that ride and getting the ball back,” said O’Keefe. “She’s so fast. And everybody is kind of working together to trap and it’s really working out for us and we’ve been getting the ball back before the team can get it over the restraining line.”
O’Keefe also mentioned her top defensive players in Chase Memmott, Christina Beattie, Logan Davis, and Clara Winters.
“We’ve been trying to man up as much as we could so we’re just working with this new crew, we have a whole new crew back there with low D’s,” said O’Keefe. “They’ve been working hard and we’re just trying to get better with our man defense.”
Their team has the ultimate confidence in their freshman goalie Sydney Kiernan. O’Keefe expressed that they try to force wide shots so Kiernan can defend the net at a better angle.
“100% Sidney our goalie, she’s a freshman but she does not show she’s an underclassmen, she proves it every single game and she stuns everybody,” said James.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: 15 juniors, 1 senior but future is now for Rumson girls lacrosse in Shore Conference Tournament
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