The PV girls lacrosse team's first ever state tournament win can give the team a feeling that they ended the 2017 season with a sense of glory.
In eleven years, the girls' lacrosse program at Pascack Valley never reached that big goal at the end of the spring sport season until now. Coach Velez's crew not only won, but they dominated the competition. On Monday night, the five seeded PV team took down the twelve seeded Passaic Valley Hornets 17-3. The score was 11-0 at halftime. Velez compared the event to another big event that occurred very recently in the girls' lacrosse program at PV. "I think it’s very similar to Jenny (LaRocca), now we’ve set a new bar for ourselves and obviously we want to surpass that," Velez said. "I think they played really well in [that] game. I think the next one will be a very competitive game, but I think they definitely will beat them and work hard." LaRocca scored her 100th career goal in the win. "It was a really great game because we got a lot of different people to score, so it was really exciting," Junior defense player Nicole Arden said. "Amanda (White) and Maddie (Rosenthal) both got their first goals and Shannon Culloo had an assist. It was nice that everyone was able to experience it in our first ever win in a state game." White had two goals, a ground ball, and a draw control, making both of her shots on goal. Rosenthal scored once on two attempts. Unfortunately, PV's season ended in the second round of the state tournament aganist Wayne Valley by a close 12-11 score. Elisabeth Ralph scored four times, LaRocca scored five times, while Abby Twomey and Maddy Carullo scored one apiece.
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One hundred is always a big number, a number that people strive to specifically in the sports world. Everybody wants one hundred of something in some sport. In baseball, a hitter dreams about one hundred home runs. In golf and tennis, the professionals dream about one hundred victories. And to step away from the sports aspect, one hundred years of age is always an impressive age to live up to.
Junior Center, Jenny LaRocca, is the latest athlete to achieve one hundred career goals for the Pascack Valley lacrosse program. She did so in the first round of the North 1, Group 3 state tournament against Passaic Valley. This marks a huge milestone for LaRocca and for the team as a whole. "It feels really great," LaRocca said. "My team gave me a lot of support leading up to that last goal. They made a poster, they got me hyped before the game, and then they really helped me with getting my [most recent] one." As a consistent scorer on the field, the team and Coach Velez simply admire her effort and what she brings to the team. At the same time, this accomplishment can hopefully be a segway to a yet more improved team. "One hundred goals is a huge accomplishment, and not a lot of people get to that point," Coach Velez said. "And it’s great that she was able to do that and kind of set the bar for everyone else. So [to] all the attackers; it’s a goal for all the attackers." What is even more impressive is that LaRocca achieved the accomplishment with one more year of high school left to add on to the amount. The talk around the team confirms that theory. "For her, it’s even better that she’s a junior since she can surpass that and set a new record," Velez added. "Jenny scoring 100 goals is proof of how hard she works and how important she is to the team," teammate and close friend Jaime Bader said. "Not many players can score 100 goals before they graduate and even less players can score 100 goals before they're a senior." When LaRocca takes it into perspective, she can only thank the help that her teammates and Velez has given her to make it to where she has today. "Everyone on the team works SUPER hard at practices and we are all so close," LaRocca started, "It felt really good to be able to accomplish this with my team this year. Velez was really excited for me, she has done so much for me over the past three years. And even before that, I think I can definitely say some of the things I have accomplished I wouldn't have been able to do without her constant support and her positive feedback." After scoring one hundred goals, Bader could not be more satisfied with the work that her close friend has put in. "Jenny works her butt off every day and gives all she has during practice and games. You can't ask for anything more than that," Bader said about LaRocca's work ethic. Despite what her teammate thinks, LaRocca has one more goal in mind for her senior year of high school, which involves pressure from a loved one. "Well I think next year specifically for the team, we want to win leagues. My oldest sister was the first year to win leagues here and she always makes fun of me because we never won leagues. It’s kind of like a sibling rivalry that’s going on that’s what I wanted to do next year," LaRocca replied. LaRocca scored four goals on five attempts and one assist against Passaic Valley while getting five goals and one assist most recently against Wayne Valley. The last tournament of the Lax PV Girls' season is approaching.
There are 12 teams in the North 1, Group 3 tournament. PV, the five seed, is set to play the 12th seeded Passaic Valley. The Indians are the highest seed in the tournament without a bye. Seeds 1-4 have byes, and those teams include Northern Highlands, Immaculate Heart, Indian Hills, and Wayne Valley. A notable team in the tournament is Holy Angels, whom PV lost to twice this year. If PV were to seek revenge on the sixth seeded team, it would have to come in the semi-finals. Also, everything would have to break right for both teams The Indians are 1-1 within the past week, and only have one more non-tournament game that comes on May 17th against Livingston. On this day, the Indians' spirits are what prevailed.
In their 11-9 loss, the senior players were recognized for their overall contributions they made throughout their years in PV's girls lacrosse program. Those seniors are Olivia Tytla, Shannon Culloo, Ally Bonanos, Lucia Alashaian, and Cassidy Rodenberg. "It was a great day to honor our seniors. Although we didn't come out with a win, there was a ton of energy all over the field and our team played really hard from the first whistle to the last against a good team," Elisabeth Ralph commented. Ralph had two goals on the day. Aside from the immediate impact they have on their teammates on the sidelines and on the field, it also reminded the girls that there isn't much time left with the current seniors. It is necessary to play hard while they're still there. "We always work as hard as we can but this game reminded us that we only have so much time left to play with our seniors," defensive player Jaime Bader said. There are various traditions within the lacrosse program that occur that lead up to this game. Coach Velez mentioned that the Senior players are the "moms" of the team, and each mom has a "family" comprised of players on the team that are freshmen to juniors. These families need to perform required tasks for their mom. "We have "families" that are made in the beginning of the season where the Seniors are the "moms" and they have a "family" made up of freshmen through juniors," Velez said. The younger girls do a really good job leading up to the day and taking care of their "mom". Velez even explained a new tradition that is more out there, which requires the families getting their "mom" fish. "They get fish for the seniors, a new lax tradition and do different things for them including coffee in the morning and [saying] quotes at the end of the day." Velez also mentioned that the typical senior night t-shirts for the PV sports teams were finally included in the girls lacrosse team's program for the first time ever this year. It is safe to say that the "families" prepared their "moms" for their big game. Even though team traditions kept the girls' spirits and attitudes bright, they also played tough. One of the leading scorers on the team, Jenny LaRocca, commented that the seniors all work so hard and influence the team's dynamic as a whole. "Everyone worked really well together and worked really hard by the influence of our seniors," LaRocca said. They all work extremely hard in practices and in games to make the entire team better which is why playing with them and for them yesterday was so special." LaRocca co-led the team in scoring on the night with three. The Indians' next game comes against Morris Knolls on May 9. PV was quick to avenge their County Tournament with a 18-8 win over Paramus on Tuesday, May 2.
The county game against AHA was a devastating overtime loss, and it's the second time this season the Indians have dropped a game to the Angels. But the team definitely feels that they got a nice win to get themselves back on their feet. "Obviously losing in overtime is extremely difficult," attack wing Elisabeth Ralph said. "And we want to play better than that and win by more than that. So, getting a big league win was definitely nice." Ralph had three goals, three assists, two ground balls, and seven draw controls for the Indians. Center Jenny LaRocca had five goals, two assists, one ground ball, and four draw controls. The two have accumulated a whopping total of 156 goals and 46 assists on the season. The leading scorer also expressed her satisfaction with their ability, saying that a lot of people were able to contribute on scoring. Ralph had a point, as Ally Bonabos, Maddy Carullo, Dominique Perini, Abby Twomey, Melina Varterisian, and Shannon Donnelly all tacked on at least one goal. Hannah Linton added ten saves, for an accumulated 100 saves on the season. "Hannah was an animal on goal as always," Ralph commented. PV defeated rival school Northern Valley Old Tappan in the first round of the County Tournament by a score of 16-6.
The scoring was led by Juniors Elisabeth Ralph and Jenny LaRocca as usual, but unlike usual LaRocca had more goals than the former. She had eight while Ralph scored four, and their other scores came from Dominique Perini (2) and Maddy Carullo (1). LaRocca's eight goals were only one shy of the school record for goals in a game, which was broken by Ralph on April 19th in their game against Scotch Plains. The Indians were in control of their first round game through both halves, and will play their second round game against the winner of Holy Angels and Waldwick, which will take place at 4:15 p.m. Thursday. After the winner is decided, PV faces that team Saturday, the 29th. The Indians took down Westwood to improve to 4-3 on the season.
Standout attack wing Elisabeth Ralph scored seven on ten attempts, while Maddy Carullo came in second in scoring for PV on the night with four goals on seven attempts. The final score was 16-7. Hannah Linton made fourteen saves, the most amount of saves she has made on the season. Through the past three games, Linton has made a total of 29 saves. Ralph praised the defense on the night in regard to Linton and Jaime Bader. "Hannah was an animal in goal as always with fourteen saves," Ralph said. "Jaime Bader really stepped in on the defensive end and caused some huge turnovers." Bader had two caused turnovers that turned into scoring opportunities and goals. At the half, the score was a close 7-6. Linton and the defensive front would only give up one more goal in the second half. PV had more fouls than any other game this season, having a total of 28 on the night. Ralph suggested that the overload of the whistle blowing caused the defense to play better. "After the refs started calling a lot of fouls, our defense adjusted really nicely and held them to only one goal in the second half." "We picked up on all ends of the field in the second half," said Coach Velez. "Defense kept Westwood to one goal in the second half and attack {wings} scored nine in the second half to take the win." Ralph also replied that it was a good win today to advocate for their tough loss on Friday against Indian Hills. The Indians have won two out of their past three, but Ralph brought up that a win streak should be in the near future. "We aren't on a win streak, but if you come back to me at the end of the week I think that will change." On the Spring Break, the Indians' girls lacrosse team ended with a 1-2 record after a 11-9 loss to Lakeland.
It is not ideal for the Indians to lose two games in a row despite the team's top goal-scorers Elisabeth Ralph and Jenny LaRocca scoring four goals each in the game. Emily Sinsi scored once which totaled PV's scoring for the morning. Lakeland nearly doubled PV's amount of scorers, as they had five players tack on at least one goal. Madison Burgner lead the way with four. PV Goalie Hannah Linton saved 13 to Lakeland Goalie Sarah Deighan's 7, but overall Lakeland was able to get more scoring from more players which resulted in their victory. PV gets a chance to put themselves above .500 Wednesday the 19th against Scotch Plains-Fanwood. The girls' lax team is at a solid .500 mark through their games in their week off from classes.
Their first game of the week came on Tuesday, April 11th against the Academy of Holy Angels. The Angels edged the Indians out by a 11-10 victory. The goals came from Elisabeth Ralph (4), Dominique Perini (2), Jenny LaRocca (2), Ally Bonanos (1), and Maddy Carullo (1). Every player made at least half of the shots they took, with LaRocca excelling that mark by making two out of the three she shot. The second game came on Thursday, April 13th against Glen Rock. PV emerged victorious in this contest 11-10, with Ralph and LaRocca combining for all of PV's goals. Perini led the team in draw controls while Nicole Arden led the team in caused turnovers. Goalie Hannah Linton accumulated 18 total saves across the two games, and having nine apiece in each. The Indians sit at a 2-1 record, and their opportunity to put one more win in the win column comes on April 15th in a home game against Lakeland. What: Pascack Valley (PV) vs. Academy of Holy Angels (AHA)
When: April 11th, 4:30 p.m. Where: Pascack Valley High School Outlook: The Indians will kick off their spring break after a successful season opener away against Jefferson Township. The Indians now face the 2-2 Angels at home, with the Angels coming off a two game winning streak against Glen Rock and Waldwick. PV and AHA last squared off in the 2014 season, when the the Angels pulled out a 14-13 win. However, AHA was not in the same league as the Indians like they are now when this 2014 game was played. Current Senior Melanie Welch of Academy of Holy Angels was the only player in that game to get on the scoresheet in that game three years ago with two goals and one assist. Bottom Line: The Angels have three more games under their belts this season, as the Indians' second game of their season against New Providence was rained out. Regardless, the Indians will definitely have to work to topple this private school team as they recorded a 16-3 record in 2016 to the Indians' 9-9. This can be very close, and the Indians are very capable to pull out a win here. |
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