Hopewell drops heartbreaker to powerhouse Moorestown
MOORESTOWN >> There have been several times in the past when a great effort against a national power like Moorestown would be an amazing moral victory for the Hopewell Valley girls lacrosse team.
But, this isn’t just any Hopewell Valley team.
No, this group of Bulldogs isn’t intimidated by anyone and that includes the Quakers, who are ranked No. 14 in the nation by Lacrosse Magazine.
Hopewell Valley saw Moorestown rally for two goals in the final 47 seconds of the game to take a thrilling 12-11 win over the Bulldogs on a sunny, but chilly Quakers field on Tuesday afternoon.
“This is a really tough loss,’’ said Hopewell’s Aiden Cage. ”We played our hearts out the entire game and lost it in the last seconds. It was tough, but it’s great to see the potential we have to come that close to Moorestown. It might be Moorestown, but we are even with them. We are going to be even with teams like them all season and we are going to compete and we are going to come up with these wins.’’
When Hope Anhut scored with 3:36 left in the game the Bulldogs (3-1) took an 11-10 lead. Cage won the ensuing draw control and Hopewell slowed things down and was looking run some clock and get a good opportunity.
Then at the 1:07 mark an offsides call on a loose ball gave possession to the Quakers (3-0).
It took just 20 seconds for Moorestown to tie the game at 11-11 on a bounced shot by Genie Santarpio, and it was Santarpio that claimed the next drew to set up the game winner.
Olivia Alvarez found Claire D’Antonio cutting and she found the back of the cage for the game winner with 14 seconds left in the game. Moorestown sealed the win capturing the draw control.
“Moorestown is a phenomenal program,’’ said HV coach Pam Edwards. “But, we are not satisfied because we could’ve won that program. Our kids really stepped up. We were short on a couple things, but they fought hard all the way though. If we could have a minute back. We’ll learn from this and we need to carry this into the rest of the season.’’
Hopewell Valley, which three times held a one-goal lead, was led by Anhut with four goals, Cage had three with Kim McDonough and Sabrina Schrader each getting two. McDonough and Megan Radice each had an assist.
Sabrina Gomez came up big in the cage with eight saves.
Moorestown, which has played in 16 of the last 17 Tournament of Champions, saw Quinn Nicolai have four goals and two assists, D’Antonio had three goals, Ava Frantz and Santarpio each had two with Collette Smith getting one. Alvarez had three assists.
“It’s a blessing to have all these girls by my side so that we can keep up with teams like Moorestown,’’ said McDonough. “It was a hard fought game. This is the kind of game that will fuel our fire and just make us come out even harder the next game.’’
The largest lead of the game was 3-0 at the start by the Quakers. Then Hopewell rallied for four straight to grab the lead. The two pretty much traded goals and then it came down to the last 47 seconds.
“We have a solid unit and a tough group,’’ said Edwards. “We have grown a lot and they are being led by some very strong seniors.’’
Seniors that know they belong on the field with the best of them.
Anhut 4, Cage 3, McDonough 2, Schrader 2. (HV). Nicolai 4, D’Antonio 3, Santarpio 2, Frantz 2, Smith (M).
— McDonough, Radice (HV). Jess Goralski 3, Lawson Hayes 3 (M).
20 (HV). 21 (M); Gomez 8 (HV). Jess Goralski 3, Lawson Hayes 3 (M).
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