Brett Carroll
Staff Writer
Senior guidance has been instrumental this spring for the Shore Regional High School girls’ lacrosse team.
The coach, Samantha Warner, shared plenty of praise to her veterans who have stepped up this season.
“We’re a young team so we really had to focus on the leadership of our seniors,” Warner said. “I only have four seniors, but they have been tremendous at getting the team ready for big moments. If you look at our record and some of the scores, you would think that we’re a team that’s been up-and-down. But that’s not the case, we’re just young. A lot of people mistake inexperience with lack of talent. We have a lot of talent, just not a lot of experience. So, our leadership has come in every day and not only lead, but show the girls how to handle certain situations.”
The situation now is the Central Jersey, Group 1 state tournament.
Shore advanced to this week’s state semifinals when the Blue Devils knocked out Saint Rose High School, 16-8, in the sectional quarterfinals on May 18 in West Long Branch.
The victory lifted Shore’s record to 12-6 for the season.
The Blue Devils were scheduled to play Mount Saint Mary Academy in the sectional semifinals this week.
“I think in the postseason, we need to just maintain our composure and our consistency,” Warner said. “Going back to the postseason, and the fact that we’re young and had some injuries, we do tend to get into a little bit of a lull. When you have a lull against a good team, they tend to put four-or-five goals in the back of the net. That’s a very hard hole to try to dig ourselves out of. So, we’re really trying hard to be ready by the first whistle and avoid any situation that we dig ourselves in and have to try to climb back out of.”
Warner was pleased with Shore’s effort in the victory over Saint Rose.
“I think really, we’re just focusing on today right now,” Warner said. “I know it sounds so cliche’, but with what we have going on, it’s really most important to take it one game at a time, one half at a time. Hopefully, we get the win and then we can regroup and focus on the next task at hand.”
Warner stated that the team’s strength lies in the midfield.
“My midfielders are the key to our game,” Warner said. “I really, throughout all my years of coaching, know that the game is won in the midfield. It’s all about in between the restriction lines. Your hustle. Ground balls. Your connection. It’s really a 50/50 game, but whoever wins the midfield usually wins. So with that being said, my three midfielders that start are [seniors] Kelsey Moore, Mary Kate George, and [sophomore] Lily Santi. They’re really going to be imperative to keeping the game in our favor.”
The coach further explained her team’s strengths.
On offense, it’s making sure that we utilize all of our attackers. It can’t just be a one or two person game. You’ll see that most teams have that dominant player, and we are not an exception to that, but, again, going back to our leadership, I love how Mary Kate gets everyone involved. When everyone is involved, then our offense is extremely effective. On the defensive side, [senior] Meghan Moore is our senior leader on the defense, and she really is our quarterback. She really is very time consistent. She always keeps her composure. And with our defense being made up of mostly freshman and sophomores, she really is able to pull everyone together if they make a mistake or get beat. That’s going to be imperative to our game as well.”
