L’ville earns fourth straight trip to final
LAWRENCE >> Right from the opening whistle Lawrenceville let it be known it’s looking to make a run at four straight county tournament titles.
It didn’t come easy, though, as Princeton was a formidable opponent.
The Big Red got a goal late in the first half and some more to advance to their fourth straight Mercer County Tournament final with a 4-1 win over the Tigers on a chilly and windy Thursday evening in Lawrence.
No. 1 seeded Lawrenceville (10-2) will await the winner of Thursday night’s second game between No. 2 Allentown and No. 7 Stuart.
The finals will be played at 6 p.m. on Sunday night at Lawrence and will be video streamed live on WBCBsports.com
The Tigers (13-3-1), who saw their hopes dashed in the semifinals for the second straight season, will now focus on the state tournament where they are the two seed in Central Jersey Group IV.
The Big Red controlled most of the play in the first half, but the play of the Princeton defense and Grace Cookde in the cage denied them most of the time.
The lone score of the initial period came when Caroline Foster sent a pass to the right sideline. Lizzie Huesman took it, broke toward the goal, found a slice of daylight and sent a laser on to the left corner of the cage.
The Tigers put together a short run in the first half and the Lawrenceville defense of Libby Ford, Delia McCarthy and Devon Moray was up to the task and turned the threat away.
The Big Red made it 2-0 with 18:52 left in the game when Olivia Koch sent a pass in the middle to Caitlin Hoover. Hoover made a sweeping stroke and it connected with the backboard.
The game spent a lot of time in the midfield and both teams excelled in that area keeping the other out of the circle.
But, when Huesman was in the circle it was trouble for Princeton.
She sent a rocket on cage that was saved by Cooke, but Lawrenceville’s Coco Hunt was there for the rebound for a 3-0 lead.