Taking Flight: Eagles soar past Crimson Knights in season opener

MIDDLETOWN – It was all smiles on opening day for the fifth-ranked Middletown South girls lacrosse team. During a beautiful day at the legendary field affectionately known as “The Swamp”, the Eagles took down Wall, 18-5, to move to 1-0 on the season.

After going down 1-0 on a goal by Crimson Knights’ senior Molly Jost, the Middletown South offense took center stage. Junior Alexis Marquis, the daughter of former MLB Pitcher Jason Marquis, got the Eagles on the board with a goal. Sophomore goalie Sophia Harper stopped a good chance from the Crimson Knights before sophomore Ashley Penn scored her first of six goals on the day to put the Eagles up 2-1 with 4:36 to play in the first quarter. Barely over a minute later, senior Riley Murphy received a crisp pass from senior Anna Stumberger and found the back of the net. Penn would add another goal at the 2:39 mark of the first quarter.

Wall was not ready to go away as senior Ella Schaible found the back of the net late in the first quarter to cut the lead to 4-2. Shortly after a Middletown South timeout from head coach Rob Grella, Penn found the back of the net once again to complete the first quarter hat trick.

The second quarter saw an avalanche of goals from the Eagles. Charlotte Reid scored with 10 minutes remaining in the quarter before Rutgers commit Hayley Jamison flicked in her first goal of the season. Marquis would score again before Jamison added two more goals in the quarter effectively putting the game out of reach before the second half.

While it was a total team effort, the two biggest stories were the dominance of Jamison and Penn, as well as the first career win in the net for Harper. 

Jamison was quick to credit her teammates after five goals in the contest.

“I honestly couldn’t do it without my teammates. After the first one I felt a lot more confident on the field, once I had one, I could just keep going and build off of that,” said Jamison.

Sophomore Ashley Penn led the team with a game-high six goals and was buzzing from the first whistle. It was apparent early on that Wall was going to have a hard time containing her.

“It boosted my confidence, knowing my team believes in me” Penn said, “I think this game was a really good opener for everyone. We’re all really close with each other, and we all know each other’s moves.”

Head coach Rob Grella was very pleased with both Penn and Jamison’s performances.

“I think both of them did a great job of finding the back of the net today, they shot the ball really well.”

Grella was also impressed with Harper’s play in the net, who is now starting for the Eagles after graduating First Team All-Shore goalie Anna Weise.

“We’re super excited, she’s a lot of fun to be around and she makes a lot of good saves,” said Grella about Harper. 

Middletown South will face a big test on Thursday as they travel down to play third-ranked Mansaquan at 3:45 PM.

Junior Isabella Breen scored two second half goals to lead Wall. The Crimson Knights will look to bounce back against tenth-ranked Manalapan at 3 p.m. tomorrow when they host the Braves.