Madison Girls Lax Suffers Heartbreaker In MCT Semis

CHATHAM–Madison girls lacrosse coach Carole Rawding threw her hands down, exasperated, as the seconds ticked off the clock. In a season of agonizingly-close defeats for the Dodgers, this one might have hurt the most.

Chatham's Meghan Murray scored a breakaway goal with 1:15 to play following a stoppage of play, and the second-seeded Cougars escaped with an 8-7 win over Madison in the semifinals of the Morris County Tournament Saturday at Chatham Middle School.

Of Madison's six losses this season, four have been by one goal. The other two losses were by margins of two and three goals.

Alli Helwig scored a hat trick for Madison (9-6), which rallied from a four-goal second-half deficit and nearly sprung the upset. Murray, Jaclyn Leto and Kathryn Maiorano all scored twice for Chatham.

"These were two very talented teams," Rawding said. "Our team played an awesome game, but we're terribly frustrated with how today ended."

Leto broke a 6-6 tie with 4:26 to play on an impossible goal. She ran into a double-team around the cage, and fell down trying to escape it. But while falling, Leto managed to get a shot off and beat Madison goalie Shannon Sweeney.

Chatham tried to end the game on the stall, but instead a shot was taken. Sweeney saved it, and the Dodgers took over with just under two minutes to play. Madison capitalized seconds later, when Ali Foulsham tied it up with 1:41 to go off of a perfect feed from Emily Rutland.

The Dodgers won the ensuing draw, but lost the ball in a scramble near midfield. A collision with 1:21 to go left a Madison player on the ground, and the referees stopped play. Crucially, when the whistle blew, the ball was awarded to the closest Chatham player - Murray, who stood on the edge of the Madison defense.

Once the whistle blew, Murray sped past Madison's final line of defense, stopped about six yards away from the cage, and fired a high shot over Sweeney's shoulder. The goal put Chatham ahead for good.

"When an official makes a call that changes the game, with a minute left in the game, there's nothing we can do," Rawding said.

Leto won a ground ball on the next draw, and Chatham successfully wound down the clock without turning the ball over.

Saturday's game was the second time in two weeks that Chatham roared to an early lead, only to see Madison come back with a strong second half. On April 22, Chatham had a six-goal lead cut to one before the Cougars scored a 17-14 win.

This time, Chatham's lead was 6-2 with 20 minutes to play. That proved a more surmountable obstacle for Madison, which scored four consecutive goals over the next 13 minutes to equalize.

Madison lived on transition goals in the second half, with Chelsea Davies and Evan Foulsham scoring goals within 12 seconds of each other to cut Chatham's lead to 6-5 with 10:56 left.

The Dodgers controlled possession, winning draw after draw in the second half. Helwig tied it at 6-6 with a high shot from the left side with 7:40 to play.

"Once we started using the open girl and finding her, we did a lot better," Rawding said. "We were getting draws and taking open shots instead of holding on to the ball too long. They're an excellent defensive team and we needed to be better on attack."

 The Cougars' strategy of tripling any Dodger attackers who came near the cage worked beautifully in the first half, with Madison managing just six shots on goal in the opening period.

Helping matters for the Cougars was goalie Hannah Reader, who stopped nine of the 16 shots she faced.

"I was very pleased with our defense," said Chatham coach Deb Marriott. "We made a goalie change and it worked out great today. Hannah was awesome out there."

Five different Cougars scored in the first half, and Chatham led by four until Alli Helwig scored in transition. That cut Chatham's lead to 5-2, where it remained at halftime.

For the second straight year, Madison's Morris County Tournament quest ends in the semifinal round. But despite her obvious, visual frustration, Rawding knows that Madison has much to play for over the next few weeks.

The Dodgers travel to Mountain Lakes Monday for a game that will decide the champion of the NJAC-Freedom Division. After the Dodgers' final regular-season home game (Wednesday vs. West Essex) and final regular-season game (Thursday at Boonton), the NJSIAA Tournament looms.

"To get to the semifinals of the county tournament is a good place to be," Rawding said. "We've still got some big games ahead of us, and we still have two chances to win a championship."

BOX SCORE
Madison   2  5  -  7
Chatham  5  3  -  8

GOALS
MAD- Alli Helwig 3, Chelsea Davies 2, Evan Foulsham 1, Ali Foulsham 1
CHAT- Meghan Murray 2, Jaclyn Leto 2, Kathryn Maiorano 2, Emma Ehler 1, Brittany Marriott 1

ASSISTS
MAD- Ali Foulsham 3, Rachel Misko 1, Emily Rutland 1
CHAT- Jaclyn Leto 1, Emma Ehler 1, Brittany Marriott 1

SHOTS ON GOAL
Madison     6  10  -  16
Chatham  13    6  -  19

SAVES
MAD- Shannon Sweeney 11
CHAT- Hannah Reader 9