Lawrenceville routs Notre Dame in MCT semifinals
ALLENTOWN » It didn’t take Lawrenceville long to show it’s ready to make a run at four straight Mercer County Tournament titles.
The Big Red came out and had three goals before five minutes had elapsed.
Notre Dame battled valiantly, but Lawrenceville was too much and took a 17-5 win in the Mercer County Tournament girls lacrosse semifinals on Wednesday on the turf at Allentown.
Top-seeded Lawrenceville (9-5) will await the winner of the second semifinal between No. 2 Allentown and No. 3 Princeton.
Notre Dame (6-7) which was seeded fourth, will tune up for the state tournament.
The Big Red controlled the draws in the first half to give the attack the momentum it needed.
They scored the first six goal and have five players score goals as they tried to navigate their way through the tough Irish defense.
ND got its first goal at the 9:38 mark and finished the half strong scoring twice in the final two minutes to make it 9-3 Lawrenceville at the half.
On Tuesday, the Big Red played Oak Knoll in the Prep A semifinal and fell, 14-11.
“This was awesome,’’ said Lawrenceville’s Bella Koch. “It was a great team effort, everyone played well, we executed on attack and played great defense.’’
Bella Koch had four goals and one assist. Her sister Lexie, a freshman, had four goals and two assists.
Bella played in the 2019 MCT with her older sister Olivia, who was the MVP, and now she is playing with her little sister.
“It’s exciting because I love playing with Lexie,’’ said Bella, who is
headed to Bucknell. “We look out for each other a lot and we play well together.’’
There is much more to the Big Red, though, than just the Koch sisters.
Maddie Brogan had a pair of goals and an assist, Piper Harrell had a pair of goals and Hayla Dora, Chloe Babich, Coco Hunt, Caitlin Hoover and Eliose Galante all had one goal.
The Irish got goals from Cam Beetel, Ellie Morrone, Michaela Driscoll and Alyssa Lienhard.
Lawrenceville is now only the third team all season to score double digits on the Irish. The other two are Oak Knoll and Summit.
ND is a team that has been hampered by injuries and relies on defense, but it was tough to contain the Big Red.
“They play good defense,’’ said Bella Koch. “We practiced against that type of defense and I feel like we are playing real well now.’’
“Our girls distributed and we had a lot of players score,’’ said Lawrenceville coach Lisa Ewanchyna. “It was good to see a team effort. If we are going to win we have to have that team mentality.’’
It was also the Lawrenceville senior leadership stepping up.
“We have such great players,’’ said Ewanchyna. “It’s nice to see them have this tournament again.’’