Potent Offense Leads Chatham High School Girl’s Lacrosse to Win Over Morristown; Peyton Furst Scores 4 Tallies

In a battle of two talented squads, Chatham High School (N.J.) Girl’s lacrosse team used its high-powered offense, powered by junior Peyton Furst‘s four goals, and ability to control the circle, to stymie Morristown, 11-5, Tuesday evening at home at a fridged Hass Field.

The Cougars improved to an undefeated 4-0 record.

Chatham head coach Helen McCutcheon-Oliver said that team’s aim was beat the Colonials to punch in the draw, and keep the pressure on their defense as much as possible, which they did. But she did give a lot of credit to Morristown goalie Eloise Downes, who saved 25 of 36 shots against a talent-loaded club.

“We absolutely dominated in the circle,” McCutcheon-Oliver explained. “That was one of our goals going into this game, was to possess the ball, and we absolutely did that, despite a lot of shooting on our end. But their goalie played absolutely insane. She is so strong and had some college-level saves. She stood on her head.

“But we had the ball more, and we were able to generate more offense,” she added. “Our ride was incredibly tough today. We came up with a lot of forced turnovers, knockdowns, and errant passes. And that’s all attributed to our offense and middies getting back and trying to get the ball back. Defensively, we fought really, really hard and executed really well.”

The Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 advantage in the first quarter. With tallies from seniors Grace Hallahan and Ava Cantillion, Chatham went into the break leading, 5-2.

The Cougars held a three-goal lead in the third period. But it took a dominant 5-2 fourth quarter to bury the Colonials (1-2) in the end.

Cantillion, senior Ashlyn Carpenter and junior Annie Irish found the back of the net twice apiece, while Hallahan had one tally. Junior Leah Tapper added two assists in the victory.

Chatham hosts a gifted Summit squad Thursday at 4:00 p.m.

— Jerry Del Priore