N.B. girls lacrosse gets off to splendid start
Team defeated GMC rival Old Bridge, pushing record to 4-0
BY GEORGE ALBANO Staff Writer
The North Brunswick High School girls lacrosse team couldn't have asked for a better start to the 2008 season.

Well, maybe a little better.

The Lady Raiders won their first three games of the season in convincing fashion, defeating Montgomery 14-4, South Brunswick 18-5, and West Windsor- Plainsboro South 14-4.

They were hoping to make it 4-0 when they played rival Old Bridge last week at home in a rematch of the last two GMC championship games. But as the Raiders were warming up and getting their adrenaline up for the early-season showdown, Old Bridge called and said they couldn't secure a bus to travel to North Brunswick.

The game was called off and was rescheduled for the following day, but at Old Bridge instead of North Brunswick.

"We found out at game time, at 4 o'clock," said NBHS head coach Pam Sagehorn. "We were already on the field ready to play. The girls were so excited to play, and then I broke the news to them."

The Raiders did end up making it to a 4-0 start with a 15-13 win last week against Old Bridge, and when they play Old Bridge later in the season in the second part of their home-and-home series, that game will be moved to North Brunswick instead of Old Bridge.

But none of that made any difference when the highly anticipated game was called off, leaving Sagehorn and her team feeling pretty deflated.

"It stinks," the second-year coach said matter-of-factly. "Not only did the game get called off, but now we [had] to go to their place to play them. The second time we play them might not be as important as this time, so we were looking forward to playing them at our place.

"I just told the girls, 'Let's go out and beat them tomorrow.' "

North Brunswick did beat Old Bridge in last year's GMC final after losing to its rival in the 2006 title game. The Raiders graduated only three seniors from that county championship team, which also captured the White Division crown and advanced to the second round of the Group IV state tournament.

Meanwhile, seven seniors return this season to form the core of what should be another successful season.

"We also gained some new players who should help, so we expect to be even better this season," Sagehorn said. "We have a couple of freshmen who have looked good and some girls who were on the team last year who have really stepped up."

If the first three games are any indication, North Brunswick looks to be very solid on both offense and defense, outscoring opponents to the tune of 46-13.

Senior tri-captains and returning starters Erin Dunne, Meghan Olmstead and Kaitlyn Curran will be three key players on attack. Dunne, a center attack, leads the team in scoring with 13 goals, netting four in each of the first two games and then finding the back of the net five times in the win over WW-PS.

Olmstead, an attack wing, had hat tricks in all three games, while Curran added five goals in the three contests.

"She's more involved in our transition game," Sagehorn pointed out. "She has a lot to do with how we get the ball down there."

The Raiders have been getting production on both ends of the field with

MichelleMarano, another returning senior starter, anchoring the defense.

"She's the fastest defender we have, and she always comes up with ground balls," Sagehorn said. "She always gets a stick on the ball to break up the other team's passing."

Another key returnee on defense is sophomore goalie Frankie Russo, who started as a freshman.

"She's talented," her coach said. "She's been averaging about 10 saves a game so far this season."

The Raiders have another freshman starting this season in Kelly Manley, who will play on offense and defense.

"She's kind of a swing player," Sagehorn said. "She's real quick. She's little, but quick, and she always gets in there when there's a battle for ground balls."

Senior Kyleigh Airey and junior Nikki Karas, both spot starters a year ago, are back on attack, while junior Michelle Barthole, who also came off the bench, will be a spot starter this season.

"Sometimes she'll start and sometimes she'll be the first sub off the bench," Sagehorn said. "And she can play offense and defense, depending on where I need her. I told her at the beginning of the season to 'know how to play everywhere, because you're going to have to play everywhere.' "

Three defenders Sagehorn is also counting on are senior Chris Borbas and junior Lauren Olmstead, who both started last year, and senior Tylere Simpson, who's new to the team.

The Raiders also received a boost with the return of junior attack Brooke Peragallo, who missed all of last season with an ACL injury.

"She worked really hard to get back in there this season," Sagehorn noted.

A trio of juniors, Malia Mon and Reshma Joseph on defense and Amanda DiPietro on attack, will provide North Brunswick with depth, as will Kait Aloia, the only other freshman on the varsity roster besides Manley.

"She will come in and give players on offense a break," Sagehorn said of Aloia.

With a roster loaded with talent, experience, senior leadership and promising underclassmen, Sagehorn feels this week's game against Old Bridge could be the first of several meetings between the two GMC rivals.

"We play twice during the regular season and hopefully in the county tournament again and then in states," Sagehorn, who just completed her first season as head girls basketball coach at North Brunswick, said. "So we're looking ahead.

"We had a team chat about our team goals, and we want to be county champs again and we also want to go undefeated," she added. "Then we want to make it as far as we can in the state tournament.

"We set our goals high, but I think we have a chance to do some special things this season."