Princeton back on track; ND’s Rizzuto emerging as leader
Despite the horrific weather every team has had to deal with, the season is flying by and fast approaching the last weeks of the regular season.
So, what better time to clean out a very cluttered mind and notebook.
• It has been quite a resurgence for Princeton. After a tough 1-5 start, the Little Tigers are 4-1 and had a four-game winning streak snapped by Pingry on Saturday. Princeton scored 67 goals in the four wins.
Shaylah Marciano had eight assists in the win over Hopewell Valley and had 13 goals and 18 assists in during the four-game winning streak..
Next on the horizon is a trip to division rival West Windsor-Plainsboro North on Monday.
• After the loss to West Windsor-Plainsboro South, its second in a row, Erin Scheno let her Hightstown team know it’s time to pick it up.
“There is not much time left in the regular season and it could be a great last month of the season,” said Scheno. “I know a team with 10 seniors they are going to want to bounce back leading into tournament play. We have to prove ourselves the rest of the season.”
The Rams (6-5) did a good job of bouncing back on Saturday with a 14-6 win over New Egypt. Hailey Cammarata led the way with five goals and senior Abby Agostino had a pair of goals and five assists.
Scheno’s first coaching win was over Jackson Memorial, where she learned the game from Diana Stritski as a player there.
“It was a very surreal feeling that things had come full
circle,” said Scheno.
While she learned the game at Jackson, her skills and desire to coach were developed at West Chester, one of the premier Division II programs in the nation. At WCU, her mentor was coach Ginny Martino, who this season notched her 300th career win.
• There was a tense period 10 days ago when Notre Dame thought Maddie Rizzuto may miss a significant amount of time in her senior season.
Rizzuto, however, missed just two games and has 17 goals on the season for the unbeaten Irish.
“I think with every year there is going to be change and there is going to be some pressure,” said Rizzuto. “I’ve had great leaders my three years on varsity, so It’s no big deal stepping into that role because I’ve had great girls to look up to. I enjoy the leadership role.”
• Congratulations to ND’s Danielle Losier on her 100th career goal. She leads the Irish with 28 goals.
• Princeton Day has gotten things straightened out with nice wins over Blair (17-12) and Peddie (13-10). Madison Mundenar led the way with 10 goals in the win over Blair.
During that game, Mundenar went over the 200-goal plateau. She now has 208 career goals.
• West Windsor-Plainsboro North has been traveling a rocky road of late with Notre Dame (a 9-3 loss), Princeton (Monday) and Allentown (4/30) in a row. The Knights started the season with five straight wins and now have dropped three straight.
“We’ve had a lot of close games and this team just doesn’t stop until the end,” said North coach Julia Giordano. “The rest of our games are going to be tough like this here on out and hopefully we are learning.”
It might be having some hard times now, but when they tangled with sister school WW-P South, the Knights came out on top.
“South is a tough team with talented players and coaches and the emotions of the rivalry make the game such a big one,” said Giordano. “The girls were so excited with the win which they fought hard for the entire 50 minutes.”
• Congratulations Nottingham coach Matt Paglione on his first coaching win as the Northstars downed Township rival Hamilton, 9-7. Michaela
Donnelly led the way with five goals.
• Since we’re talking about the Patriot Division, how about Lawrence. The Cardinals have won 13 straight division games. Its last loss was to Ewing in the final game of the 2016 season.