DORAN LED IN GOALS, ASST, GROUND BALLS, DRAWS
Prepared by DAVID B. CORBIN
Alternating wins with losses defined the season for the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School girls lacrosse team. The Raider girls finished with an even 9-9 record – 2-5 in the Freedom White Division – and seven of their games were decided by two or less goals.
The Raiders opened their season with an 8-7 win over Mount St. Mary but got rocked, 13-6, by Glen Rock in the next outing. After a 17-11 loss to the Verona Hillbillies, the Raiders humbled Mount St. Dominic, 15-10, then upped their record to 3-2 with a narrow, 9-8, victory over the Cranford Cougars.
West Morris proved to be too much for the Raiders in a 14-6 setback but a pair of one-goal wins came next Montville (13-12), Ridge (8-7). After a 12-7 loss to Montclair Kimberley the Raiders improved to 6-4 with an 8-6 win over Kinnelon. A 13-3 loss to Sparta was followed by a 13-3 romp over Ramapo but the Caldwell Chiefs stopped the Raiders, 11-8.
The Union County Tournament was next and the Raiders trounced the Governor Livingston Highlanders, 13-3, in the first round but lost to the Westfield Blue Devils, 18-10, in the quarterfinal. The Raiders dropped an 11-10 squeaker to the New Providence Pioneers then crunched the Columbia Cougars, 19-8, in their regular season finale. The Raiders’season ended with a 9-6 setback to Red Bank Regional in the North Jersey, Group 3 first round.
The Raiders had one very dominant player across the board with Juliana Doran, who led the team in goals with 82, assists with 14, total points at 96, ground ball with 61 and draw controls with 84. Next was senior Erin Ryan who scored 22 goals and added nine assists for 31 points. Additionally, Ryan scooped 22 ground balls and had two draw controls. Junior Carina DiLollo finished with 21 goals and seven assists for 28 points and added 24 ground balls and 36 draw controls (2nd on the team).
Junior Kayla Murray fired in 18 goals and dished out six assists for 24 total points, scooped 25 ground balls (2nd on team) and had 34 draw controls (3rd on team). Senior Rachel Levy put in 12 goals and added five assists to go with eight ground balls. Junior Grace Cawley netted 10 goals and an assist, scooped 13 ground balls and had two draw controls. Freshman Isabel Hofman contributed four goals, five assists and four ground balls.
Sophomore Josie Lomonte finished with four goals, two assists and seven ground balls. Freshman Neela Darmarajah netted four goals and added 11 ground balls and 10 draws. Senior defender Mackenzie Harmer, who scored once, finished with 16 ground balls and 11 draws. Freshman Catherine Ciemniecki scored once and added three ground balls and a draw control. Sophomore defender Sammie Nocera scooped seven ground balls and had a draw control.
The Raiders outscored their opponents 179-167 and goalkeeper Elissa Steingart (10 draw controls) recorded 145 saves.
Doran had numerous games where she scored six goals or more, beginning with nine goals against Verona. She had seven goals and two assists against Mount St. Dominic and netted six goals in the win over Cranford. Doran netted seven goals and an assist against Governor Livingston and recorded eight goals and an assist against Westfield. In the game against New Providence, Doran stuffed in seven goals then flicked in six goals against Columbia.
The Raiders will graduate a few key seniors but will return a number of girls who know how to find the net.
