By Warren Rappleyea
With two wins in as many games, South Brunswick High School’s girls lacrosse team is off to a good start as it looks to better last spring’s 9-9 mark and contend for the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) championship.
The Lady Vikings opened the campaign with an impressive 17-6 victory against South Plainfield High School March 30, as Emily Lorber netted a hat trick and Caroline Hvozdovic added a goal to go with six assists.
On April 1, South Brunswick found itself down, 10-5, at the half against Monroe Township High School. A furious second-half comeback resulted in a 15-14 win, as Alyssa Ryan and Shannen Sterner scored four goals apiece and Hvozdovic contributed two goals and seven assists.
A year ago, South Brunswick had trouble scoring goals at times, but the team still showed a lot of promise. The Lady Vikings dropped a one-goal decision to rival North Brunswick Township High School in the GMC Tournament semifinals and qualified for the NJSIAA North Jersey, Group IV Tournament but lost to Summit High School in the opening round.
“We’re a much deeper team this year, and I think we’re going to score a lot of goals,” second-year coach Sean Edwards said. “In our first two games, we’ve already had eight different girls score. That balance is going to help us throughout the year.”
Hvozdovic keys the offense. The senior entered the season with the team’s career assist (101) and single-season assist (46) records. She scored 14 goals and added 29 assists a year ago and has already picked up two goals and 13 assists this time around.
Lorber and Ryan are solid attackers and have scored six goals apiece in the early going. Junior midfielder Amanda Palumbo scored 13 times last spring and has four goals thus far. Juniors Brianna Gonzales and Lindsey Szuch can also put the ball in the net. Sterner, a sophomore, has six goals from the middle, while Hailey Konopka has scored twice and added three assists.
On the back line, South Brunswick will look to vocal senior Neepa Patel to anchor the defense. She is joined by Meghan Foley and juniors Angela Mazzola and Deepshika Muruganathan, giving the Lady Vikings an experienced group of defenders. Maddie Reichbart, junior Dakota Apicella and sophomore Lauren Bunch are all expected to see time in front of the net.
“Our goalkeepers are all new, so we’re looking for our defense to really help them out, especially early in the season,” Edwards said. “We want to force our opponents to take low percentage shots and keep them to the outside.”
South Brunswick was set to visit GMC favorite North Brunswick April 5 for an early-season test and will play Edison High School April 7. On April 9, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South comes to visit.
“Last year, we came within one goal of going to the GMC final,” Edwards said. “This year, we’re a much better team. We expect to compete for the conference title and go as far as we can in the state tournament.”
The coach noted that in addition to North Brunswick, Monroe Township High School, East Brunswick High School and Old Bridge High School are among the top contenders in the conference.
“Every match in the GMC is a tough one,” Edwards said.
