Princeton Day earns spot in Prep B finals
PENNINGTON » Bridget Kane has been to three straight finals — and won them all — so now in her senior year at Princeton Day she wasn’t going to be denied one final trip.
Kane started the offensive moving and sophomore Maggie Madani was superb in the goal.
It all added up to a very impressive 15-7 win for No. 3 Princeton Day over rival No. 2 Pennington in the Prep B semifinals on a sunny day on the Red Raiders turf.
The Panthers (8-8) will meet either No. 1 Montclair Kimberley (11-4) or No 5 Morristown-Beard (7-6) in next week’s finals. The other semifinal will be played on Tuesday.
The win also avenges a 15-10 loss PDS suffered at the hands of the Red Raiders (8-6) during the regular season.
“To come up big the last three years has been huge,’’ said Kane. “A few months ago, when we met we said we want to cap it off and finish strong with four. We never let go and we’ve always had our eyes on the prize.’’
The prize is a game closer as Kane paced the attack with four goals and three assists, Maddy Birch had four goals and one assist, Julia Lach added a hat trick, Madison Mundenar got two goals and one assist and Kyra Hall had one and one.
Elle Schofield had a pair of assists.
Princeton Day got the best of the draw controls, 14-4, as Kate Bennett was on target.
Madani, who had six saves in the first half, set the tempo for the Panthers and frustrated Pennington. Her play allowed PDS to jump ahead 4-1 just eight minutes into the game.
“When I get into a game like this I just want to focus on the ball,’’ said Madani. “We have grown so much as a team and we have become very confident in each other, and that allows me to focus on my job.’’
Another turning point was a Panthers goal as the horn sounded, ending the first half. Mundenar got a turnover near midfield with nine seconds left and tossed it down to Lach, who finished and gave PDS a 6-3 advantage at intermission.
“We settled it and we knew what we wanted to do, and we stuck with the plan,’’ said PDS’ Hall of Fame coach Jill Thomas. “Senior leadership means a lot at this time of the year. It was huge to get out of the gate and get a lead, too.’’
Pennington was led by Maddi Seibel with four goals as Gianna Lucchesi, Kate Long and Heather Holley all had one goal. Amanda Kenrick had 10 saves in the cage.
“We allowed them to have the momentum and then we were on our heels,’’ said Wendy Morris, the Pennington coach. “We are a better team than we showed.’’
A year ago, it was PDS looking for a three-peat. Now, the class that were freshmen when this great state championship run started wants to make it a complete sweep.
PDS (8-8) 6 9 – 15 Pennington 3 4 – 7 Goals: PDS: Kane 4, Birch 4, Lach 3, Mundenar 2, Hall, Bland. P: Seibel 4, Lucchesi, Long, Holley. Assists: PDS: Kane 3, Schofield 2, Mundenar, Hall, Birch. P: Long. Shots: PDS: 25, P: 17. Saves: PDS: Madani 9, P: Kenrick 10.