Mountain Lakes Pulls Away Late to Defeat Rumson-Fair Haven for Group 1 Crown

EWING — It wasn’t the ending Rumson-Fair Haven wanted, but it was a performance that reinforced why the Bulldogs have become one of New Jersey’s premier lacrosse programs.

As Rumson-Fair Haven players embraced one another on the turf at TCNJ following Friday’s NJSIAA Group 1 state championship game, head coach Marc Moreau made his way from player to player, wrapping each one in a hug. Before long, there were few dry eyes among the Bulldogs, coaches included.

The scoreboard read Mountain Lakes 10, Rumson-Fair Haven 7, but it could not erase what had become another remarkable season for one of New Jersey’s premier public school programs.

“These kids love each other, man,” Moreau said afterward. “They could have gone elsewhere. These guys are my family.”

In a championship matchup worthy of the stage, North Jersey Group 1 champion Mountain Lakes and South Jersey Group 1 champion Rumson-Fair Haven traded momentum swings for nearly four quarters before the Lakers pulled away late to secure their 17th state championship, the most by any public school in New Jersey and second only to Delbarton overall.

For Rumson, the defeat was painful, but not for lack of opportunity.

The Bulldogs generated chance after chance and outshot Mountain Lakes for much of the afternoon, only to be repeatedly denied by senior goalie Bailey Austin, whose spectacular 14-save performance anchored the Lakers’ championship effort.

“We were down. We came back. We got right back in it,” Moreau said. “This is what happens in championship games. You’re not going to blow anybody out. We had our opportunities. Their goalie made some good saves, and sometimes that’s the way it goes.”

The game lived up to every expectation from the opening faceoff.

Senior attacker Holden Gillespie, who is committed to Bucknell, opened the scoring for Mountain Lakes before Rumson responded with a burst of its own.

Boston University-bound senior attacker Luke Lydon needed just nine seconds to score twice, giving the Bulldogs a 2-1 advantage midway through the first quarter and energizing the Rumson sideline.

Rumson controlled the faceoff battle early and used that possession advantage to generate a better volume of chances, but Austin kept Mountain Lakes within reach. Gillespie then answered with his second goal before the quarter expired, sending the teams into the second tied at two.

Mountain Lakes gradually seized control in the second quarter.

Senior midfielder Massimo Corvelli opened the scoring before Rumson sophomore attacker Teddy Whitehouse answered with the equalizer. Then came the game’s defining stretch.

As the Lakers flipped the faceoff momentum from the middle of the second quarter into the late stages of the third, their offense became more efficient, and their zone defense continued to force Rumson into contested shots.

Corvelli scored again, and just seven seconds later, junior attacker Lawson Fagan, who is committed to Dartmouth, found Gillespie for his third goal of the afternoon, igniting a three-goal run that gave the Lakers a 6-3 lead before a weather delay halted play.

Ironically, the nearly 90-minute weather delay ended without a single drop of rain ever falling at TCNJ.

Despite trailing by three, Rumson remained undeterred.

The Bulldogs continued to generate scoring opportunities after play resumed but repeatedly found Austin standing in the way, as Mountain Lakes’ disciplined zone defense forced difficult angles and contested attempts around the cage.

Rumson entered halftime with 22 shots compared to Mountain Lakes’ nine, yet still found itself chasing the scoreboard.

The Bulldogs nearly erased the deficit in the third quarter.

Teddy Whitehouse scored twice to complete his hat trick, while senior midfielder Blake Ahmann added another to trim the margin to a single goal at 7-6 entering the fourth.

Still, Mountain Lakes’ surge in the middle of the contest shifted the pressure. The Lakers capitalized on their possessions during the stretch when faceoffs tilted in their favor, while Rumson was left searching for the finishing touch despite continuing to generate opportunities.

Rumson found renewed life at the faceoff X in the fourth quarter, creating more 50-50 ground balls and giving itself another chance to rally.

“Jaden does a great job of understanding what happened when he didn’t get it,” Moreau said. “Our wings did a really good job getting in there and creating 50-50 balls. We got momentum that way, but we just weren’t able to cash in.”

Then came perhaps the game’s cruelest sequence.

Rumson believed it had tied the contest on a fourth-quarter goal, only to have it waved off because of a penalty. Seconds later, Mountain Lakes raced the other way and scored instead.

Rather than a tie game, the Bulldogs suddenly trailed by two.

Sophomore midfielder Liam Haggerty pulled Rumson back within one with his first goal of the afternoon, but Fagan delivered twice in the closing minutes to complete his hat trick and put the championship out of reach.

Gillespie finished with five goals, Corvelli added two goals and one assist, and Fagan totaled three goals and one assist to pace the Lakers’ balanced attack. Grove City-bound senior midfielder Vinny Cina and Denison commit Carson Fitch, a senior midfielder, each added an assist.

For Rumson, Teddy Whitehouse led the way with three goals and one assist, while Lydon added two goals. Ahmann and Haggerty each scored once, and senior midfielder Beau Devine recorded an assist.

The Bulldogs accomplished all of this while playing without Washington and Lee-bound senior attacker Joe Whitehouse, the team’s second-leading scorer, and junior defender John Paik.

“Losing Joe was tough,” Moreau said. “But it’s happened to us all year. There wasn’t a moment when they felt sorry for themselves. They got right back to work.”

The coach never questioned his team’s resolve.

“We’ve never doubted that we’d come out here and have a great effort,” Moreau said. “They were just a little bit better than us today.”

Although Mountain Lakes left Ewing with its 17th state championship—giving the Lakers the most titles of any public school in New Jersey and trailing only Delbarton overall—Rumson-Fair Haven walked away with something that could not be measured by trophies.

It was a senior class that elevated the program, a locker room built on trust, and a team whose coach viewed every player as family.

As Moreau embraced each of his players one final time, the heartbreak was undeniable.

So, too, was the pride.

The Bulldogs fell one win short of a state championship, but their resilience, togetherness, and refusal to make excuses ensured they walked off the field with their heads held high.