High School Lacrosse:
Moorestown Ends Shawnee's Streak

Monday, April 19, 1999

By Gary Steiner
SJSports Staff Writer

When the Lady Quaker's of Moorestown visited the Lady Renegades of Shawnee on Monday, the game had a playoff feel to it, with a lot of electricity in the air. Maybe it was because the last time the two teams met was in last year's state championship, when Shawnee came away with a 10-6 victory. Shawnee was also riding a 14 game unbeaten streak going back to last season. Many people felt that whoever won this game would most likely be the winner of this year's state championship.

The Lady Renegades scored first, with a strike from Sara Krupka (21:57). Both teams battled back and forth until Shawnee's Kate Gilland scored (15:43). When Hilary Fay scored Shawnee's third goal at 9:37, Moorestown Coach Deanna Knobloch called a time-out to settle her team down. The Lady Quaker's responded, with their first goal coming at 7:59 from Erin Fitzgerald off of a free position. Four more goals followed, one by Jenna Walsh (5:51) and then three quick scores in the last two minutes of the half, by Courtney Legath (1:17), Kate Merriken (1:06), and Erin Fitzgerald's second of the game (0:30). The Lady Quakers had turned things around to take a 5-3 lead.

The Lady Renegades battled back in the second half. Hilary Fay scored her second goal of the game when she took the ball from end to end to slam it home at 19:14. Next, Kate Gilland scored her second goal of the game (15:55) by taking a pass from Erica Durst off of a free position to tie the game at 5-5. Moorestown pulled ahead with Erin Fitzgerald's third goal of the game (13:47), her second off of a free position. Thirty seconds later, Rowan Smith scored what turned out to be the game winner (13:17) to put the Lady Quakers up 7-5. Shawnee kept up the pressure, as Hilary Fay shot her third goal of the game (12:35). But Moorestown didn't blink, as 28 second later Kate Slotman added an insurance goal to put the Lady Quakers up 8-6. Jenna Walsh put the final nail in (10:21) with her second goal to make the final score 9-6.

Moorestown's defense and excellent play by goalie Autumn Lundgren kept the Lady Renegades from scoring for the last 12 minutes of the game. Both teams showed great sportsmanship in congratulating each other at the end of the contest. Both teams knew that they would see each other again in the playoffs. Moorestown remains undefeated at 6-0, and Shawnee falls to 5-1.

Photos by Art Redd