Lindsay Rickert (25) and Indian Hills will try to clinch their league title today against Northern Highlands.
The county tournaments are upon us and a regular season league champion will be crowned today.
It’s going to be an exciting week in girls lacrosse and it should only get better with the Bergen and Passaic County tournaments starting over the next few days.
To get you set for what to watch for, we have key match ups, thoughts on counties, kudos for a first-year varsity team that earned its first wins of the season and scoring leaders below.
Have to start with the league championship on the line today and a league title partially clinched yesterday.
Indian Hills hosts Northern Highlands (4:30) in what essentially amounts to a league championship game for both teams. The Braves have already clinched a share of the Independence North title and can win it outright by beating the red-hot Highlanders. Northern Highlands, meanwhile, can clinch a share of the title by beating the Braves. It would be the second straight co-championship for the Highlanders and quite an accomplishment considering all they lost. It will be a battle of offense (Hills) v. defense (Highlands) and something is going to give. I’m not going to say what I think will happen other than it’s going to be an intense battle.
The latter distinction belongs to Holy Angels, which clinched at least a share of the American North with a win over Demarest yesterday. Unfortunately for the Angels, they now have to wait until their final regular season game of the year (May 14 against River Dell) to try and clinch the title outright. All the same, a great milestone spearheaded by two high scorers who are among the top 15 in points for North Jersey.
In the American South, Wayne Valley has clinched a share of the title. Wayne Hills and Bergen Tech can also claim a share of the title if they beat Mary Help in the next couple of weeks. For now the Indians are the only ones with at least a share.
The Bergen County tournament also starts today with Saddle River Day hosting Paramus in the play-in game. The winner faces Ridgewood, but both know this is their chance to pick up a county win. This is the first match up between these two, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. Saddle River Day, a first year program, has limited experience but is led by the highest scorer in the area. Paramus has struggled to score, but has played some good teams tough. Should be a good one.
The Passaic County tournament seeds were released last week and I just wanted to reiterate what I said back then: This thing is wide open. I could see Lakeland, Wayne Hills or Wayne Valley winning it all. Valley and Hills will likely play in the semifinals after Hills upset Valley last week and it will be quite a rematch with so much on the line. Hills is the hottest team in the county and has wins over Lakeland and Valley. Will revenge matter? Hard to say. Pride might be the bigger factor.
Passaic County tournamentÂ
First round, Monday, May 6
No. 1 Lakeland, bye
No. 7 Passaic Valley at No. 2 Wayne Valley
No. 6 West Milford at No. 3 Wayne Hills
No. 5 Clifton at No. 4 DePaul
Finally, a shout out to West Milford for earning its first two wins of the season and the first two wins in program history. It’s never easy adjusting to the varsity speed. But in its first year at that level, West Milford is holding its own.
Now onto stat leaders.
Top 15 points
Daniella McMahon, Saddle River Day, 105 (94 g, 11 a)
Kaitlin Lewis, Demarest, 96 (81 g, 15 a)
Katie Gattoni, Old Tappan, 95 (68 g, 27 a)
Natalie Carti, Indian Hills, 88 (48 g, 40 a)
SheilaHills, Holy Angels, 86 (53 g, 33 a)
Sydney Scherer, Bergen Tech, 66 (42 g, 22 a)
Alina Fiato, Bergen Tech, 62 (41 g, 21 a)
Meghan Edson, Lakeland, 62 (31 g, 31 a)
Nicole Kopyta, Indian Hills, 58 (51 g, 7 a)
Cara Batelli, Mahwah, 56 (43 g, 13 a)
Alex Faeth, Lakeland, 54 (31 g, 23 a)
Danielle Stephens, Holy Angels, 51 (35 g, 16 a)
Morgan Lamb, Northern Highlands, 50 (31 g, 19 a)
Emily Wong, River Dell, 50 (44 g, 6 a)
Melissa Errico, Old Tappan, 50 (43 g, 7 a)
Top 5 save percentage
Paulina Marino, Northern Highlands, 64.2
Kayla Rowley, River Dell, 58.4
Rachel Gruber, Fair Lawn, 56.2
Shannon Bremer, Indian Hills, 55.3
Carli Jo Vieldhouse, Wayne Valley, 54.2
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