Hopewell, Robbinsville renew rivalry
There have been some amazing highlight moments and then a few that weren’t as high for both Robbinsville and Hopewell Valley girls lacrosse teams this season.
All that is in the rearview mirror as the two Colonial Valley Conference Valley Division teams get ready to square off in the first round of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group II Tournament.
The 10th seeded Bulldogs (5-12) have won nine of the last 10 against the Ravens (9-10), including an 11-9 victory earlier this year. No. 7 Robbinsville will welcome the Bulldogs for a 6:30 p.m. start at the Steven J. Mayer Athletic Complex in the tourney’s opening round.
The Ravens have amped up the schedule the past couple weeks, and despite having won only twice in eight games, they were in just about every game. They lost by two to Northern Burlington, by one to Peddie and Pennington and by four to Hun.
The Ravens are hoping the tough stretch of games will put them in better shape this time around.
“We are a much more confident team than we were in the beginning of the season,” said Ravens coach Jenna-Marie Colicchia. “We are going to stick with our game plan and clean up the little things. We are looking forward to the game.”
Hopewell Valley has dropped six of seven, and like Robbinsville, has played hard and is coming off a tough 20-18 loss to Phillipsburg.
“We have improved so much,” said the Pam Edwards, the Bulldogs’ Dean of CVC coaches. “We played a good game against Phillipsburg. I was proud of the teams effort. I think Robbinsville has also improved. It’s the state tournament we need to execute and play hard and as a strong unit.”
Princeton High is the only CVC team to win a state title, and that was in 1985. Hopewell Valley went to three straight state final games from 2007-09 under Edwards and have the most state title appearances in the conference.
Robbinsville is led by junior Cora Butler with 52 goals and 18 assists. Butler has 91 career goals. Butler has a team high 57 draw controls. Another junior, Kendall Franke adds 40 goals and has 12 helpers. She has 92 career goals. Sophomore Morgan Gonser has been a filling up the cage with 35 goals and 11 assists, senior Hannah Tyler has caged 21 goals.
The defense is led by junior Daphee Luong and the Ravens have gotten solid goaltending all season from senior Alley Ortega, who has an 8.15 goals against average.
Up in Hopewell, it has been a breakout season for Anderson Cappucci as the senior has tallied a career high 71 goals and assisted on 22 others. She has a career total of 127 goals and 162 points. Another senior, Maura Graham has 27 goals and Maya Joyce has come on to score 23 goals this season. Joyce had a career high four goals in the ‘Dawgs win over Robbinsville in April.