Shore Girls Lacrosse takes early American Division lead, knocks off Middletown South 8-6
In a battle of undefeated teams in the American Division, Shore took the early advantage by defeating Middletown South 8-6. Middletown South took an early 2-0 lead on goals by Anna Stumberger and Hayley Jamison. After taking the punches early, Shore answered back with a goal by Cami Grella (daughter of Middletown South Head Coach Rob Grella) and a first period buzzer beating 8 meter shot by Jasmin Okuszka to tie the game at 2.
#Middletown South’s Anna Stumberger (Photo: Tom Smith tspsportsimages.com)
“We know them pretty well,” said Shore head coach Troy Madison. “A lot of our kids play travel ball with their girls. They scored on two 8 meter shots, and we just needed to settle down. When we got the first goal, I think we kind of settled in a bit. I thought the second goal at the end of the period was big for us. The first few games we started better offensively, so after tying it up and getting the lead toward the end of the second period I thought that really changed the momentum.”
Shore outscored Middletown South 4-1 in the second period on two goals a piece by Gabby O’Brien and Ava Matthews. Caroline Bedetti scored the lone goal of the period for Middletown South.
#Shore’s Gabby O’Brien (Photo: Tom Smith tspsportsimages.com)
Shore tried to put the game out of reach in the third period, outscoring Middletown South 2-0 on goals by Grella, her second of the game, and Teagan Harmon. Middletown South did their best to make it a game in the fourth period, outscoring the Blue Devils 3-0 to cut the deficit to 8-6. Two goals by Ashley Penn, and another by Abigail Gallagher made it a two goal deficit, but Shore’s defense buckled down over the last 2 minutes of the game to cap off their victory.
Shore’s Cami Grella (Photo: Tom Smith tspsportsimages.com)
“Our defense is young,” said Madison. “We star one junior and a combination of sophomores and freshman. We have been good defensively all year, but we did give up a few easy ones in the fourth. We didn’t do a good job of containing. Their style is typically more methodical, but we knew they were going to come after us being down 5 goals. We did a nice job of closing the game out in the final 2 minutes.”
Shore moves to 4-0 with a division game vs Red Bank Regional on Friday. Middletown South falls to 2-1 with a tough divisional game vs Trinity Hall on Thursday.
