The Alternative Press

SUMMIT, NJ – Kate Martino’s second goal of the second half provided some breathing room and the Summit girls' lacrosse team displayed its ability to control  possession of the ball for the remainder of the contest to outlast Mountain Lakes, 9-6 on Saturday in Summit.

Caroline Cordrey finished with five goals for Summit, and it was her second with 9:30 to play in the first half that provided her team with a lead that it would never relinquish at 3-2.

Martino, a senior bound for North Carolina, struck with 10:34 remaining to give Summit (3-0) an 8-5 advantage.  Sophomore Victoria Kalamaras responded with her only goal of the game 29 seconds later to get Mountain Lakes back to within 8-6 before Martino gathered in her own rebound and shot a high backhander past Sara Allison with 7:36 to go.

Mountain Lakes (1-3) held its only lead of the game when Casey Drollinger  scored with 20:58 remaining in the first half, and gained a 2-2 tie on Megan Ryan’s goal 13:31 before the half. Cordrey struck twice over a span of 3:41 and provided Summit with a 4-2 lead with 6:19 left in the first half.  Mountain Lakes remained within striking distance until midway through the second half. Once his team opened that lead, Summit’s first-year coach Mike Walsh knew just what he wanted to do

“We were hoping to get a two or three goal lead and then just grind it out and take the air out of the ball,” Walsh said. “In the conference that we’re in, every game is tough and I was kind of hoping for a game like this so I could see if we’d be able to hold the ball when we needed to. I thought our girls did an almost perfect job of doing that.  In the second half we played better defense and got some turnovers in the midfield. And then we possessed the ball well. When we got that two goal lead, it became a possession game and we were able to take the air out of the ball and not let them have it.”

Cordrey connected with 17 seconds left in the first half and then scored the first goal of the second half with 18:59 remaining to give Summit a 7-4 advantage. Mountain Lakes cut its deficit to 7-5 on Jackie Perry’s second goal of the game with 12:45 left.

“In the second half we did a good job of possessing the ball and just waiting for the right opportunity,” Cordrey said. “We worked well together as a team, we held onto the ball, we were smart with it and we executed our plays. We knew that we had to play hard and we couldn’t back off because every time that we scored, they would come right back. “I think draw control was a key for them. They got some possessions that way and they executed on them.”

Cathleen Pomeroy and Kelly Osmulski  also scored for Summit while Connie Brown stopped three first half shots and freshman Kady Glynn made five stops in the second half.

“Towards the end of the game, we wanted to possess the ball and let their defense come to us,” Martino said.  “That allowed us to take advantage of the opportunities. We worked well together as a team and that helped to create the openings. I was able to find the openings and take advantage. For us to get that three-goal lead was good. I think that we played very well today, but we have to take it one game at a time.”

Walsh was impressed with the play of Glynn.

“I put her in the game in the second half and she made some nice saves for us,” Walsh said. “She made some crucial stops.”