Chatham Girls’ Lacrosse Clicks in North Jersey, Group 3 19-7 Championship Win Over Northern Highland

Seniors Sophia Claps and Ashley Kiernan provided the offensive fire punch, registering seven points apiece in Chatham High School girls’ lacrosse’s impressive 19-7 victory over Northern Highlands in the NJSIAA, North Jersey, Group 3 sectional championship game Monday at Haas Field.

It was a physical game indeed, but the Cougars’ (17-4) speed and athleticism proved to be too much for the Highlanders, as they beat the opposition in every facet of the gam en route to their third consecutive sectional crown.

“We just played so well today,” Chatham head coach Helen McCutcheon Oliver said. “I’m so happy. I’m so proud of them. We shot to score today. Our offenses played really, really well. Our defense came up with massive defensive stops. Goalie-wise and also checking and coming out with the ball in transition. The girls just knew what they wanted, and just put it together.”

Kiernan scored her team-leading 100 point, as well as her 71st goal and 29th assist of the season. Junior Addison Barrett contributed six points (four goals, two assists) while senior Stella Straka (three goals) and sophomore Grace Hallahan (two goals, one assist) added three points each.

Chatham led 4-2 seven minutes into the contest. But registered four unanswered markers to push its advantage to 8-2 with 9:15 to go in the first half.

However, the Highlanders answered back with two tallies of their own to slice the deficit in half at 8-4 with 6:25 remaining before the break.

But that is when Chatham poured in on, finding the back of the net four times (Claps twice, Sophie Davenport, Kiernan) to go into the half ahead, 12-4.

“We all just meshed, as a team, super well today,” Claps explained. “We knew what we wanted, and we got out there; everyone was looking for each other, and that’s how it happened.”

While Northern Highlands opened up the second half with two scores, Barrett broke its momentum after scoring to make it 13-5. From there, the Cougars went on a six-goal-to-nothing run to put the tilt out of reach at 19-5 with 4:32 to go in the game.

Chatham scores its 18th goal of the day late in the affair.

— Jerry Del Priore