It was a superb way to start the 2025 season for the Chatham High School (N.J.) Girl’s lacrosse team, as the Cougars had two players–Grace Hallahan and Ashlyn Carpenter–score four goals apiece, while another–Leah Tapper–posted a hat trick en route to their 13-6 victory over a physical Mountain Lakes Friday evening at home.
Chatham head coach Helen McCutcheon Oliver said that the Lakers’ grittiness forced them to work a tad bit harder to establish its offensive prowess. Once that happened, the rest was academic, she noted.
“They were very, very aggressive. This is a very scrappy team. We knew that going into the game,” McCutcheon Oliver said. “There were probably a bunch of things that should’ve been called, that weren’t. It required us to box out a little bit better and try to get possession. When we got possession and we scored, it was a very easy flow of offense.
“And I thought our defense played phenomenally,” she added. “But, yeah, it was definitely a scrap in the circle.”
The Cougars (1-0) quickly got on the scoreboard after Carpentar, a senior attacker, found the back of the net 30 second into the game for a 1-0 advantage. She added another tally with 3:16 to go in the first period to take a two-goal lead.
After the Lakers (0-1) drew the tilt to one marker, Tapper answered with a goal of her own, with the assist from Carpenter, to take a 3-1 advantage with 10:47 remaining in the second quarter.
Chatham went on a 4-2 run to end the first half ahead up by a 7-3 score.
Although Mountain Lakes registered the first tally of the third period, two more Cougar goals ended the quarter with the home team leading, 9-4.
Hallahan– a senior who enjoyed a stellar effort–blasted a shot into the net for a 10-4 lead with 11:15 to go in the affair.
Hallahan said that while several calls were in favor of the opposition, they were able to shrug it off and pick up the big victory despite the questionable officiating.
“Our team, as a whole, I feel like, definitely, a lot of call weren’t really going our way,” Hallahan, who is committed to the University of Richmond, said. “But we really showed who we were and how we can play, and we don’t need the refs to win, and win by a lot.”
Junior Annie Irish, on a helper from Tapper, helped extend Chatham’s advantage to 11-4 with 10:07 left in the tilt.
Both squads traded goals for a 12-6 score before Tapper capped the Cougars’ strong 13-goal offensive performance with a marker with less than three minutes remaining in the game.
Senior Abigail “Abby” Hawes, an Ohio State University commit, led the Lakers with four tallies.
Chatham hosts Westfield Tuesday evening at 4:00 p.m.
— Jerry Del Priore
NY NJ Sports World/Brooklyn Sports World 